Return of the dead
by Ochibi and Urufu
Summary: After an inncident 5 years ago, Naruto was declared a missing nin. Now, he has returned. But inbetween, lies and secrets have been uncovered. Not everything is as it seems. Can Naruto save Konoha? NO Pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear.**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto grunted as his opponent's kunai grazed his ribs. Jumping back, Naruto held a hand to the wound, glaring at the robed person. This person was wearing a black mask, the features looking canine-ish.

He brought his hands together, and did a few hand signs as several kunai and shuriken flew in his direction. The shuriken were faster than the kunai, and several impaled his body before he disappeared, leaving a log in his spot.

Naruto had fled to a tree top, wanting a moment to rest. He could see his opponent staring at the log. Naruto shut one eye, as he pressed his hand more against his ribs. It was deeper than he thought and he definitely was close to passing out. Several larger wounds covered his body.

_"Little Fox, run not play, hiding from their enemies' way._

_Little Fox, come and see, that you should try to flee._

_Little Fox, do not cry, because today you are about to die…"_

This moment reminded Naruto of an old poem he used to know. He couldn't help but compare it to his situation at the moment. He wasn't fighting, he was hiding. He could see his enemy was strong, so he was running. Though, the last line was yet to happen. Naruto was NOT going to cry, or die, today.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto struggled to stand. If he was going to get away alive, he had better attack this damn guy and then run. He couldn't last much longer. Physically, Naruto was close to passing out, due to heavy blood loss. Mentally, Naruto couldn't focus enough to target straight, and his Chakra resources were running low.

Naruto held up a single kunai, scrunched his eyes up to focus, and threw the kunai straight for his opponent, then jumped away from the spot. Naruto watched as in a split second, the kunai tore through his opponent's cloak, leaving a gash. Although, Naruto knew his opponent had seen the kunai coming. Why did he allow himself to get hurt?

His opponent had no damages, if you didn't count the new gash Naruto had made. The opponent turned, his masked face turning and focused on the branch Naruto was currently hiding on.

'Crap' Naruto thought, as he let himself fall to the forest floor. He landed on his feet, and they protested loudly and gave way, so he fell flat on the ground. Naruto let out a pained groan, as the healing wounds re-opened, allowing fresh blood to spill.

"Is this it? Are you really going to let yourself die?" Naruto heard Kyuubi growl.

'I don't have much choice. You're not exactly helping, you know.' Naruto thought, managing to drag himself to a sitting position. His wounds seared, and he couldn't help but let out a painful whine. His opponent had taken no less than 5 steps towards Naruto before stopping again.

"Well, if you really want my help…" Kyuubi muttered. Naruto felt a deep power awaken inside him, as the Kyuubi gave Naruto some of his Chakra. Naruto threw his head back and hissed, as Kyuubi's chakra flooded through him, sealing up his wounds and healing them. He stood, his body no longer protesting, and glared up at his opponent.

Strangely, his opponent didn't look surprised at Narutos sudden healing. His opponent only drew a long scroll from beneath his cloak and unrolled it. Before he could do much more, Naruto launched himself forward, the kyuubi's chakra wrapping around his fist to make his blow more powerful. His opponent jumped out the way, and landed behind Naruto.

Naruto spun around, only to be knocked in the face by the opponents' foot. Naruto sailed back a few feet, before landing on all fours. The kyuubi's chakra was slowly fading, apparently it was only for healing, rather than to help fight.

'Damn you, Kyuubi' Naruto huffed as he ran towards the clock covered enemy.

"Already happened." Kyuubi muttered as Naruto sent his fist flying for his opponents face. His opponent brought his arm up, caught the fist, and then kicked hard into Narutos stomach. His opponent brushed his fingers over the cut on his arm, and dragged the blood covered fingers over the scroll.

'Oh crap, that's why.' Naruto glared and jumped back, and his opponent brought the seal up and began to make symbols. Wordlessly, he did an unrecognized Jutsu and a puff of black smoke wafted around him. Suddenly, a huge tentacle like thing burst up from the ground. It was a deep onyx colour, with streaks of navy blue over the back. It flung around wildly, before pulling back into the earth.

Naruto was shocked. But what the hell was that supposed to do? Naruto felt his body relax as the tension, which was gained from the exploding tentacle, was released. Of course, this tension was rebuilt as the earth rumbled and cracked beneath him. Naruto was thrown in the air as a giant scaled head flew from the earth, revealing a deep red mouth, with 3 very large fangs protruding from the top jaw.

Naruto let out a yelp of shock, as the jaws snapped closed and opened again, just as Naruto was falling. Spreading his arms and legs, Naruto caught the sides of the un-seen beast's mouth, before he fell into its mouth. The mouth snapped shut again, and Narutos hands and feet came together, as the beasts lips met. Naruto found himself staring into the eyes of a giant snake.

The beast flung around, sending Naruto flying. Naruto managed to upright himself in time before the beast struck the group next to him. Naruto jumped, eyes watching both the beast and his opponent. His opponent was now standing on a tree branch, looking bored. Naruto growled, before dodging another strike from the snake.

Drawing out several shuriken, Naruto jumped and threw the pointed stars at the snake. As the shuriken made contact, they bounced off. 'That's some freaking strong skin' Naruto thought as he watched the stars drop of the ground. The beast let out an angry hiss, and Naruto noticed that one of his shuriken had imbedded into the snake's eye. The giant snake brought its body out from the earth, and Naruto had to guess it to me half a kilometre long.

Naruto jumped and landed on the thrashing snakes head, indefinitely pushing a kunai into the snakes other eye. With the snake blind, Naruto jumped to the ground, about 20 metres from the cloaked enemy. Naruto stood sideways to both the snake and his opponent, keeping his eye on both.

"What a dobe…" Naruto heard his opponent say, for the first time. Naruto turned his head swiftly to where his opponent was. What had he just said? And the _voice_…

And in that one second of distraction, the snake struck Naruto, one of its fangs impaling Naruto through the middle of his chest, while the lower half of his body was inside the Hebi's mouth. Naruto opened his mouth to scream, but only managed to choke on blood. Naruto looked up, his strength slipping away. Naruto saw his enemy remove his mask, as Kyuubi screamed.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

_5 years ago_

Naruto stretched his tired limbs. Today, he and the rest of his team were going to be some training. He wasn't sure what exactly the training was, but he was still looking forward to train. For breakfast, he cooked himself a cup of ramen, and a glass of miso soup.

After this, he had a shower then pulled on his orange outfit, then pulling his Leaf Headband proudly over his brow. Naruto grinned to himself and ran out the door, towards the training field.

"You're late," Sasuke called as Naruto ran up to him and Sakura. Naruto blew out his cheeks, about to retort when their sensei poof-ed behind them. Before Kakashi could give them some lame excuse for being late, Sakura interrupted.

"Save that sorry excuse. We all know you didn't really do it." Sakura hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. Sasuke blew out an annoyed breath, and Naruto was just watching his sensei intently.

"Alrighty then. Today for training, I guess we can play a game." Kakashi said, his visible eye showing he was smiling. The mask covering his mouth gave no indication of his emotions. Naruto instantly perked up.

"A game? For real? Awesome!" Naruto fist pounded the air while Sasuke looked at his sensei, his face disbelieving.

"A game? A _game_? Shouldn't we being doing something serious?" He asked in his normal stoic voice.

Sakura watched their Sensei think for a moment, before Kakashi broke into a grin (although you still couldn't tell from his mouth, only through the eye that was visible).

"This is a serious game, you know. We're going to be playing cat and mouse. Now, Sasuke, I want you to be the cat. Sakura and Naruto, you two are the mice. Basically, you have to hide from Sasuke, until the time runs out. Which is, like 5 hours? Sasuke, you have to catch both of these two, and then bring them back to me. Jutsus, Shuriken, Genjustsu, Kunai etcetera… may be used." Kakashi waved his hand, emphasising the point. "This game is basically to test your hiding and finding skills...oh! And you gotta wear these!" Kakashi reached into a bag that was sitting at his feet, and pulled out 2 sets of mice ear headbands.

"What are those for?" Sakura asked, as Kakashi forced an ear clad headband onto Naruto's head. "Authenticity. Make it more realistic." Kakashi chuckled before putting a pair on Sakura's head, too. Then Kakashi reached into his bag again and pulled out a headband with black cat ears.

"Don't worry, there's a pair for you too!" Kakashi smirked and forced the ears onto Sasuke head, as much as the Uchiha struggled, the ears had still managed to be placed on his head. After this, Kakashi pulled his orange book from his pouch and gave his team a look that said 'go, I want to read…'

"Ok sensei, read your pervy book, and we can start." Naruto said before jumping away. Sakura giggled slightly, looking at Sasuke through the corner of her eye before also jumping away. Sasuke stood still before cracking his knuckles.

"Seriously? I have to wear cat ears? What the hell?" His voice was highly annoyed, and Kakashi simply waved his hand in dismissal. "Yeah, you do. I'll only tell you this though, those ears you're wearing? They have a special jutsu equipped in them to enhance your hearing. That's the reason." Kakashi said before relaxing on the ground reading his book. Sasuke took this as a sign to go away, so he jumped.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto hid in what he thought was a great hiding spot. He sat in the trunk of a tree that had been hollowed after the branches had been torn away. He didn't realize that this would automatically make a dead-end if Sasuke managed to find him. Naruto snickered and clapped his hands together, rubbing them. It was slightly chilly today.

'_Brat, what are you doing?_' Naruto heard Kyuubi ask, which was surprising since he wasn't much of a talker.

'Hiding.' Naruto thought back, forgetting to keep a lookout.

~ ҉ ~

Sakura was hiding in a high tree branch, silently giggling to herself. Sasuke looked so cute in the cat ears. And the fact that they looked real and were the colour of his hair didn't help either.

Sakura rested one hand on the side of the tree, the other on her lap. She had set up a couple of trip wires around, and a few hanging exploding tags around in the trees.

Feeling pretty secure, Sakura shut her eyes for a moment, imagining Sasuke with a tail too. Sakura giggled again, then re-opened her eyes to find herself face to (upside-down) face with Sasuke.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke jumped from tree to tree, keeping his eyes and ears open in case he discovered the hiding place of the 'mice'. What Kakashi had said was true. The ears really did enhance his hearing. Even if they looked stupid.

Sasuke immediately stopped jumping, as he saw something dangling from a tree branch. Sasuke walked up to it to find an exploding tag. Hn. He cut the wire it was hanging on, and it dropped to the forest floor, with a very loud _BANG_ sound. He heard a gasp about 200 metres away (thanks to the stupid cat ears), and he silently made his way over.

He saw a pink head from between the branches, and realized she had her eyes closed. He smirked. Sasuke concentrated his Chakra into his feet, and standing on the branch above Sakura, fell so he was upside down with his feet planted firmly on the underside of the branch. After a second, Sakura smiled and opened her eyes.

She screamed. Sasuke quickly put a hand over her mouth, and held her head against his palm. "Caught you." He announced, before he knocked her out.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto let out a sigh. It had been almost half an hour of sitting here. Sure the forest was big and he should have expected a long wait. He half wished he had brought along some take out ramen, but then decided against it. Nah, Sasuke would probably smell it.

Naruto started to hum to himself, softly in his head. '_What are you humming?_' Kyuubi asked. The tune was somehow familiar. 'I dunno. Just humming.' Naruto replied, looking above him. The sky was still a bring blue, and the sun had moved further across the sky. It had been about an hour already. He sighed, and rested more comfortably inside the log.

The thing that made him get up though, was a piercing scream that was cut-off, about half a kilometre away. He knew it was Sakura, and possibly Sasuke has caught her. Better safe than sorry, Naruto jumped out of the log and jumped through the trees, away from the direction of the scream.

~ ҉ ~

Kakashi was quite surprised when Sasuke turned up, lugging an unconscious Sakura over his shoulder.

"You know, you didn't have to knock her out…" Kakashi shook his head, partially amused.

"Whatever. I still have to find Naruto, although I can guess it's some idiotic hiding place…" Sasuke mumbled, pushing his hands into his pockets and turning on his heel. As Sasuke walked off, Kakashi re-arranged the unconscious pink haired girl so she was resting against the nearby log. Kakashi stared in amazement.

The fact that he had caught up with Sakura was good enough, but that he hadn't found Naruto first? Kakashi snorted, amused before turning back to his book.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto let out a sigh. The sun was warm, he felt over heated in his stupid jumper, and Sasuke had still not managed to find him. He was standing on a high tree branch, about half a kilometre from where they started. He was determined not to get caught, but he could be seen at first.

"Dammit!" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning his weight on his right foot. If that damned Uchiha did find him soon, he'd probably die of boredom.

After a few more minutes, Naruto shifted his weight. Again. Maybe the tenth time already. Not that he was counting. Naruto used one hand to rub the back of his head, and he looked around. There was no sight of the raven haired boy, so Naruto was tempted to just jump out the tree and scream. He took one step, and was all together pushed from the tree, fell face first into the dirt ground, with something heavy on his back.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke watched, amused. The blond had no idea that Sasuke was right above him. Had of the blond been searching for chakra signatures, he would have noticed the Uchiha above him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms. This was interesting. Sasuke watched the blonde's annoyance for a few extra minutes, before deciding 'well, it's now or never'. As Naruto took a step, Sasuke 'pounced'. Yes, another cat irony he immediately hated. Sasuke landed on the blonde's back, pushing them both over the edge of the tree.

Naruto let out a strangled scream as he landed face first into the hard ground. Sasuke pulled a kunai out of his pouch and pressed in into the blonde's neck.

"Well now, I finally caught the last damn rodent." Sasuke grumbled, standing up but holding the kunai in place. Naruto grumbled something into the dirt and Sasuke smirked.

"I can't hear you." Sasuke said in his trademark stoic voice.

Narutos hand flew out, knocking one of Sasuke's off the ground, causing him to fall slightly. In this miniscule time, Naruto managed to knock the kunai away, pull out one of his own and hold it towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked, then somehow managed to get behind Naruto, twist the blonde's arm behind his back, with the kunai planted firmly against his neck.

"Now, _Mousey_, come with me." Sasuke pushed Naruto forward, but a puff of smoke startled both of them.

A member of ANBU was standing before them, clad in the usual ANBU outfit, with a finely designed dog mask. The ANBU member held out a sheet of paper.

"All residents and ninja of Konoha must attend an important notice in front of the Hokage's building. No excuse for being late." Then the mysterious Ninja upped and disappeared.

Sasuke let go of Naruto, pulled of the stupid cat ears and looked at the blond.

"Any ideas about what this oh-so-important notice is all about?" Sasuke asked, as they both headed towards town.

"No idea, but I have a really bad feeling." Naruto replied, and sure enough, even the Kyuubi shifted uncomfortably.

~ ҉ ~

"Attention all of Konoha!" the whole village was surrounding the entrance to the Hokage's building. Team 7 managed to get near enough to the front, and they had spotted Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino nearby.

"This important notice will be announced by Senior Council member Waru." The Anbu who had given Sasuke and Naruto the message announced, before stepping aside to reveal an old, frail looking man. He had 2 spikes of grey hair behind his ears, the tips dripping to touch his shoulders, and a large grey beard that nearly touched the ground.

"My dear village," Waru called, his voice highly irritating to Naruto. It was kind of scratchy, and it half sounded like the was short of breath. "It is now, we must reveal to you, what we have hidden for the past 16 years! All our older villagers would know that 16 years ago, the demon fox Kyuubi almost destroyed our home!" There were a few murmurs of agreement amongst the villagers, and the other 16 year olds let out collective gasps.

"Is this true?" Ino called out, her voice laced in horror. Waru shook his head sadly.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is true!" Waru gestured strangely, his long sleeves flapping about, oddly reminding Naruto of wings. He saw Sasuke and Sakura stiffen, and he suddenly felt sick. "Naruto…" Kakashi murmured, putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Tears burned in the blonds eyes, but he refused to let any of them fall. Sakura had managed to fist her hand into Naruto's sleeve.

"Konoha! I am profoundly ashamed to tell you… that a Jinchuuriki of the 9 Tailed Demon Fox, is resting inside the village!" Waru announced. Gasps resonated throughout the circle of villagers, some crying and shouting out.

Naruto clutched his stomach as he Felt Kyuubi move restlessly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto, asking the silent question, 'are you okay?' Naruto didn't respond, simply staring ahead.

"Children of Konoha, for the past 16 years, for your safety, we have not revealed any of this information, although your parents have known. I must inform you, of who this Jinchuuriki is!" Waru cried, before his eyes went searching through the crowd. Kakashi's hand tightened on Naruto's shoulder, and it was beginning to ache.

"This person… this demon child… this spawn of evil…" Waru went on and on, making Naruto feel even sicker. Kyuubi was snarling, and Naruto's head was killing him. Sakura was openly crying, her head pushed into Naruto's arm, sobbing and hiccupping, she was _terrified_. A person with the demon, the very demon that almost destroyed their village, had been hidden away inside of a kid, someone they had grown up with?

Nearby, a new genin scrunched up his fists and screamed, "Who the hell is this jinchuuriki? I'll kill that bastard!" A few others called out in agreement, and Sakura only cried harder. Sasuke stood stoned faced, calculating the information.

Naruto gently shrugged Sakura off his shoulder, face wiped off all emotion. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Kakashi's eye was saddened.

"Naruto… I am terribly sorry…" Kakashi whispered, and Sasuke had only just managed to catch what he had said. The Uchiha took a hesitant step back. Naruto? No, it couldn't be Naruto…

"My villagers. My deepest regrets. But we will lie to you no longer. The Council of Konoha are here to tell you, that the Jinchuuriki… is Uzumaki Naruto!" As soon as Waru had announced this, Sakura screamed and stumbled backwards, away from Naruto. Anyone else in a 10 metre radius stepped back, crying and screaming.

"Demon… you are hereby kicked out of Konoha! Get out!" Waru gestured towards Naruto, and a kunai flew out of his hand, and Naruto jumped out of the way, eyes glaring up towards Waru.

People began to shout indecencies towards Naruto, and then began to throw things at him. Whatever they could get their hands on. Tears fell down Naruto's face, and he sprinted away. He was vaguely aware of Sasuke calling out his name, as he flew out the gates of Konoha.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by ****Urufu-Chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

_Present day_

Discoloured images and shapes passed through the black cloud of unconsciousness. Was this what it was like to be dead? Maybe, who knows? The shapes moulded and unmoulded making different shapes. At one point, the shapes had made what seemed like a Sharigan, and then again to make what looked like a bowl of ramen. Mmm…. Ramen…

Naruto felt numb. He couldn't feel anything, yet he could. It was a very strange feeling. Kind of like having pins and needles in your legs, after sitting on them for 3 days not moving them. But about 100 times worse. Naruto felt a strange absence, and what felt like floating. Was Kyuubi here to? Naruto wanted to call out to him, but not even his mind would let him speak.

After what felt like an eternity, a small flash of white broke through the dark and miss-coloured shapes. What was that? His mind seemed to gently float towards it, even though he had no control. The light sure was pretty…

'Na…Naru…to…' Heehee, the light could speak! Although, that voice sounded familiar. Familiar and damned annoying…

'Naruto!' the voice was getting louder. Was it more annoyed? The light grew considerably, its brightness increasing. It hurt, Naruto thought.

The voice got louder, the light brighter, and suddenly Naruto felt as though he was shaking. He couldn't tell if it was hot or cold… it was just… there was no temperature… '_This is weird_…' Naruto thought, as his body slowly got closer to the light.

~҉~

"Naruto!"

Naruto gasped, jerking forward. A great deal of pain sped through his chest, and he let out a strangled scream as he fell back onto his back.

"God, calm down, or you will actually die this time!" the voice, was angry. A moan passed through Naruto's lips, as the pain pulsed angrily in his chest. He lifted one hand, but since it was too painful, he put it back down.

"Oh damn… what… Where… damn it hurts…" Naruto mumbled, teeth clenched.

"That's what happens when you get impaled by a giant snake's fang." The voice sounded like a joke, but there was a stern worry behind it. The voice… Where had he heard this? He had heard it before that damned light, he was sure.

"God damnit… that happened, did I die? Is this heaven?"

"Ok, seriously, you're not making any sense… not that you ever made much sense anyway." Naruto paused. He knew that voice… it was on the tip of his tongue…

Of course, Naruto realized he could open his eyes by this point. Why he hadn't earlier was past him.

Gingerly, one eye lid lifted, before shutting again. Damned light. After getting accustomed, he opened his eyes fully. He was lying down, his head facing up. The sun had gone down, and little stars flickered on and off in the sky.

A cough to his right got his attention, and his head managed to flop to the right. His eyes focused in the dark, revealing a person sitting with their back to him. The person had cropped hair, the style reminding him of a duck's butt. The style was awfully familiar… the person wore a white shirt, with some sort of symbol on the back. Naruto couldn't see the exact shape of the symbol in the dark.

"So… did I actually die?" Naruto asked, voice somewhat raspy.

"Not really… you almost did, if I hadn't of saved your ass." The person turned their head, revealing a bright red eye. Seeing this, Naruto let out an un-manly squeak with a "Holy crap, Sasuke!" as he scrambled backwards, ignoring the pain in his chest.

"Who the hell did you think it was?" Sasuke replied in his normal stoic voice, "and don't move… Aww now you've gone and done it, your wound's open." Sasuke shook his head and moved to get up.

"No! Stay away!" Naruto pushed back further into the tree, and noticed a large amount of blood began to drip down his chest. Apparently, Sasuke had attempted to wrap up the wound, since his shirt and jacket lay next to the tree and a large creamy white bandage had been wrapped tightly around his chest.

"Well, if you want to bleed to death…" Sasuke shrugged, turning and resting his hands on his knees, looking expectedly at Naruto.

"Wait… Why aren't you yelling at me?" Naruto asked hesitantly, raising a hand to his bleeding chest. If there was to be any sudden attacks… well, he would at least _try_ to protect himself.

"And I'm going to yell at you for…? I am only going to yell and scream if you don't let me fix that hole in your chest." Sasuke replied icily.

"Yell at me for… Well, what happened… 5 years ago…" Naruto stuttered. Sasuke shook his head and motioned for Naruto to lie on his back again. Feeling slightly at ease, Naruto did as he was told and lay on his back. The pressure on his wound hurt, both in the front and back. Naruto couldn't exactly remember how the fang got through all his bones, but he knew the fang had gone straight though.

"That's a bit irrelevant at the moment. And seriously, I didn't come all the way out here to let you bleed to death." Sasuke said as he unbound the bandages on Narutos chest. The skin around the open hole was black and bluish, with Narutos veins 'popping' against his skin. Naruto gritted his teeth, as he felt Sasuke's fingers prod gently at the skin.

"Well, at least the swelling has gone down." Sasuke said before pulling a needle and thread from inside a large tan skin backpack.

"Please tell me you trained as a medical nin these past 5 years…" Naruto muttered as he felt a prick near the centre of the pain. He let out a slight gasp as he felt the skin being pulled together.

"Uh…yeah…not really…" Sasuke replied after he finished sewing up the hole in Narutos chest. Naruto grumbled as Sasuke tied a knot in the thread. Naruto couldn't really decipher what expression was on Sasuke's face, or what was in his eyes, as the youngest Uchiha had what seemed like a mask protecting his feelings.

"But still. Why are you here anyway? And… if you didn't want me to bleed to death why did you have that stupid snake attack me?" Naruto grumbled, as Sasuke motioned for him to sit up again so he could re-sew the hole in his back. Sasuke moved to sit behind Naruto has he prepared a new thread

"Well… After what happened, there had been 2 teams sent out." Sasuke told Naruto as he gently pushed the needle through the edges of the hole. Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Teams? Oh.. you mean…?"

"Yeah. The assassination squads." Sasuke murmured, doing another few stitches.

"Apparently, they had 'killed' you. Or so they announced. I never believed them, but Kakashi and Sakura refused to let me go out and search for you." Sasuke had finished sewing the hole and sat silently. Naruto shifted his head to look over his shoulder, to see Sasuke looking into the trees.

"Sakura… and Kakashi…" Naruto muttered and turned his head away. He heard Sasuke shift behind him, and watched as the Uchiha stood at the fire and prodded it with a stick.

"Yeah. Both of these reasons being different, of course. Kakashi's reason… was, well he didn't want me to get hurt as well. He had told me that he didn't want the both of us to die for nothing. Not that he wanted you to die!" Sasuke quickly added as a choking sound came out of Narutos throat. Naruto let out a sigh as Sasuke finished.

"He was trying to protect us. He was going to search for you when he could, but every time he did, he never found you. And Sakura… well…" Sasuke fell silent, and Naruto barely breathed. He knew the reason. He could perfectly remember the horror filled scream she had made when it was his name called as the jinchuuriki.

"And what about you." Naruto asked after a moment of silence. Sasuke cocked his head to the side.

"what do you mean, 'what about me'?"

"What is your reason for coming out to find me? I saw you that day, you took steps away from me, when you figured it out. Were you scared, too? Did you find me disgusting like the rest of the-"

"For god's sake Naruto, I don't care!" Sasuke hissed angrily as he tossed the stick he was holding into the fire. The fire danced angrily at its new consumable, and Naruto looked at Sasuke with a shocked expression. "Do you honestly think that I would hate you?" Sasuke asked, his angry eyes blazing with red Sharingan.

"Well… you…"

"Naruto. Honestly? After everything we've been through. Damnit. Naruto you're my best friend. You always will be. Sure, we had our moments of hating each other, but… you were the first person to actually find a reason to hate me, and actually become a friend." Sasuke shook his head. He never had been one to describe his feelings. It was true though. Naruto had been his first friend, first rival, first enemy…

"Huh… Well, to be honest, I never noticed you thought of me as a friend…." Naruto said thoughtfully. Sasuke face palmed.

"You're such a dobe."

"…Teme!" Naruto huffed. Sasuke snorted, before walking over to his backpack and pulling out a blanket. He threw it at Naruto who raised an eyebrow.

"Get some sleep. We've got a bit of a journey ahead of us." Sasuke shook his head when Naruto opened his mouth to protest. "I'll stand guard. We can talk tomorrow."

With that, Sasuke jumped into a tree to stand guard. Naruto huffed, awkwardly shifting the blanket over him. Failing to do so, he gave up when the blanket was bunched up over his stomach. He closed his eyes, waiting for sleep. Hopefully, he wouldn't die tonight.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by ****Urufu-Chan.**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto's dream was interrupted by a highly irritating voice. His dream was awesome. Ramen was everywhere! But of course, before he could touch any of the delicious food, the awesomeness was sucked away from him as he woke.

"Damn you Sasuke… that dream was good…" Naruto hissed, wiggling in his annoyance. But of course, this led to a deal of pain sweeping through his chest, which ended with him freezing in his spot and a string of curses clamped behind his teeth.

"Yeah well, we have to get moving. Sunrise is about an hour away." Sasuke said as he pulled the blanket off of Naruto's stomach and stuffed it into the backpack.

"Why… are we… moving so early?" Naruto grumbled sleepily, as he grabed Sasuke's hand and Sasuke gently pulled him onto his feet. Sasuke helped Naruto into his shirt and jacket, and then he stamped out the fire. Naruto wobbled slightly where he stood, not being fully awake. Sasuke looked Naruto up and down, sighed and said,

"I think… I'm going to have to carry you." Naruto snorted and hesitantly crossed his arms. He winced from pain, but kept his arms still.

"Hey! I don't like this either… you're just… you're in no condition to walk." Sasuke managed to say, keeping his voice from showing all the annoyance he was feeling. Naruto snorted but held his hands out. Sasuke knelt down in front of Naruto, and Naruto crawled onto his back. Once he was sure that Naruto wouldn't get damaged, he held the backpack under his arm and began a brisk jog.

Every now and again, Naruto would give Sasuke directions to where he was staying. After about an hour, Sasuke could see what looked like an arch way made of 2 bending trees.

"What's that there for?" Sasuke asked, as he somewhat came to a stop. Naruto peered over his shoulder, his arms dangling off in front of the Uchiha.

"Mm… that's where the village is." Naruto commented, before tapping Sasuke on the shoulder. "Can I get down now?" Sasuke sighed and gently put Naruto on his feet. Naruto cocked his head to the side and grinned.

"Ahh, it's good to be back!" He said, and then turned to see Sasuke watching him with a raised eyebrow.

"This is … this is it? Seriously? Are you sure you didn't knock your head?" Sasuke put his hands in his pocket, and looked at Naruto through half closed eyes. That look was very annoying. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"No, not exactly. You have to do a special sign to get into the village. It's hidden... because it contains hidden nin." Naruto said, and instantly clasped a hand over his mouth. That was not information he was meant to be spreading. Sasuke cocked his head to the side, his raven-coloured bangs hanging loose beside his face.

"Really? You've been staying in a village full of hidden ninjas?" Sasuke asked and Naruto looked at the ground.

"Yeah well, I'm one of them too. And plus, they would probably kill you... and me… if you went in there." Naruto shook his head.

"No worries…" Sasuke said before making a few hand signs, "_Henge!"_ now there stood a 6ft 3" brown headed ninja where Sasuke stood. His disguise's eyes were a pale green colour, and had a scar over his left eye.

"Mm… I think that will do." Naruto murmured, before looking towards the archway. It was a bit strange, that Sasuke had shrunk a few good inches, maybe about three. Naruto couldn't be sure.

Naruto took a deep breath and was about to perform his own transformation jutsu, when Sasuke stopped him.

"I don't want you to hurt yourself. Again. Really, if I have to do much more medical stuff, I might accidently kill you. So, after we fought, I went back to where we first started our fight, and grabbed your cloak." Sasuke held out a black piece of material and Naruto grinned.

"That's awesome."

After a few seconds, the cloak was tightened around Naruto's shoulders and neck. A black mask, similar to what Kakashi had, covered the lower half of his face, while a large black hood covered his hair and forehead. It was very long and fell to the ground, and folded around to cover his front.

"Now, slight warning. Everyone who lives there knows when a person uses henge. They may or may not know who is underneath, so if you get attacked… hmm… try not to die." Naruto said, then had a sudden thought, "You didn't become a hunter nin, or an ANBU did you? Cause if you are… you really _would_ die. And not by accident."

"Nah, just a normal chuunin. I was thinking about it, but couldn't be bothered." Sasuke shook his head, pulling out a black jacket to put on, to cover the Uchiha symbol on his back.

Naruto nodded his head thoughtfully, and as he slowly (stumbling while at it) walked forward, he made several hand signs. Thankfully, this special jutsu required little energy and chakra. Although, why it was a little energy and chakra for such a big thing… he didn't know. Or care.

_Serpent, boar, tiger, ox, dragon, hare, ram, horse_.

A large, low transparency, purple bubble surrounded Naruto and Sasuke, then shrunk to make what seemed like a second skin around the two. As they passed through the arch, everything seemed to go negative. Naruto muttered something under his breath, and making one last hand signal, _rooster_, the world seemed to flip, then go upside down, and then they found themselves standing in what seemed like a village centre, in front of an arch that looked similar to the one they had just gone through. Except, the tree's used in this arch looked more ancient, then the others.

Sasuke held a hand over his stomach and promptly threw up all over the ground. Sasuke grimanced as he stared at was once the contents of his stomach. A few people, who were dressed in robes and cloaks, snickered towards Sasuke and then went back to their own thing. Were they also hidden nin?

"It takes some getting used to…"Naruto said, an apology running through his words. Sasuke grumbled and wiped a hand over his mouth. That whole negative, upside down thing really twisted his stomach up.

"Anyway, my house is this way." Naruto pointed, and Sasuke walked behind Naruto, making sure that the blonde wouldn't fall over, as Naruto led the way to his home.

~ ҉ ~

"This… is where you've been living… for the past 5 years?" Sasuke asked, staring into what Naruto deemed 'home'.

"Well more like 4 and a half, I spent the first half year in a-"

"My god… here? Really?" disgust laced Sasuke's voice, as his mouth practically hit the floor. Only standing in the doorway, and much preferring it that way, he could see all the junk littering the blonde's home. Obviously, the Uchiha was used to living in a fancy styled home, not in poverty.

It was about the size of a normal two room home, one room being a bathroom, the other being a kitchen, living and bedroom. A simple brown couch lay in the corner nearby a broken table and a shabby pile of books. The kitchen looked grubby and take-out bowls of ramen littered the tiled floor. A double bed was hidden around a separation wall, so it would give you a bit of privacy. He could tell it would be unmade without looking at it. Rubbish and used chopsticks were lying all over the floor, and Sasuke felt something creep down his spine when he thought he saw numeral mutated looking cockroaches scatter over the floor.

"Yeah, pretty much. There's not much, obviously, since I don't really have the money." Naruto muttered. Sasuke gently lowered him onto the couch, after passing through the mound of trash. Naruto smiled sheepishly. "When I'm better, I'll clean up."

"Don't get comfortable. We might as well get up and go so we can buy some stuff. You know, food and crap." Sasuke said, walking over to the 'kitchen'. He frowned, staring at all the dirty dishes piled in the sink.

~ ҉ ~

A few curses, pained growls and a punch to Sasuke's gut later, Sasuke had managed to get Naruto off the cough and into the village. Sasuke still wore his henge, and Naruto was still wearing his cloak. Naruto moved awkwardly, stumbling every now and again which resulted in a different curse each time.

"You know, sooner or later you'll have to switch language. You're running out of swears." Sasuke grunted, and Naruto snorted. The shopping area in the village was half filled, with people in cloaks, and some without. Although Sasuke knew that they were henge's, thanks to Naruto's advice. Sasuke could see many different store lined up. There were grocery stores, book stores, weaponry stores, armory and so many more. Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, frowned and looked ahead again.

"You know what? Stuff shopping." Sasuke said, and then attempted to turn around, but the blond resisted.

"You're kidding, right?" Naruto huffed, "we just got out here! You're seriously trying to kill me, aren't you?" Sasuke rolled his eyes, and glared. People standing nearby glanced at them, and then returned to their own thing.

"Of course not, you dobe. I just… I think there may be someone following us." Sasuke replied dryly, again trying to turn them around.

"Sure, sure. You know this place is filled with people. A lot of people are going in the same direction as us." Naruto huffed again, taking a step away from the Uchiha, barely preventing himself from falling over backwards.

"I don't care. You aren't really in a position to stop me." Sasuke hissed, glared, and then dragged Naruto onto his back and carried him back to his house.

"God dammit, teme! That hurt!" Naruto whined, using one hand to repeatedly knock Sasuke in the back of his head.

"I'm beginning to regret even helping you. You're so damned annoying!" Sasuke grimaced and they finally got back to Naruto's home. Sasuke put Naruto on the couch and glared towards the door.

"I really think that there was someone-"

"_SASUKE!"_ Naruto's screech forced Sasuke to act quickly. Sasuke pulled a kunai from his pocket as a masked figure appeared behind him, a kunai flying straight towards Sasuke's heart. Sasuke ducked quickly, kicking out at the same time and knocked his opponent off the ground.

Naruto attempted to get up and help, but his chest decided to be inconvenient and send burst after burst of pain through him. Naruto could only watch as Sasuke sparred with the masked person.

Sasuke moved out of the way of yet another kunai swing, and he retaliated with several shuriken flying from his hands. The shuriken managed to hit the person before they moved out the way. One shuriken missed, and was sent flying. It was impaled into the wall, one centimetre from Naruto's head.

"Crap aim!" Naruto mumbled, but cringed when he saw the opponent lunge and stab Sasuke in the side. Sasuke gritted his teeth and jumped back when the opponent began to do some hand signs. Sasuke recognized the jutsu the opponent was attempting, and managed to stop it with a quick kick to the chin. The opponent sailed back and hit the wall opposite to Naruto and Sasuke, and Sasuke pulled a kunai out, set it on fire with one of his jutsu's, and then sent it straight into the opponent's heart. His opponent gurgled, and fell limp against the wall. Sasuke huffed, holding a hand to his side. He'd have to fix that.

"Are you all right?" Naruto asked, his body feeling tense. Sasuke nodded. "Damn it, I'm annoyed!" Sasuke smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Gee, Naruto. I didn't realize you cared so much." Sasuke told him.

"I don't. I'm just peeved that I couldn't join in."

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear.**

~ ҉ ~

"I'm guessing that the person was a hunter Nin." Sasuke said as he walked over to where the masked person was slumped over against the wall. Sasuke prodded the body with his foot, before turning to a silently fuming Naruto.

"Yeah, ok, I get your annoyed. At least you didn't get hurt." Sasuke shook his head, and picked up the tan skin backpack that he had left next to the couch. Naruto watched as Sasuke pulled out a spool of thread and a needle. "How's your chest?" Sasuke asked, as he measured and cut a length of the thread.

"I've felt better." Naruto replied. Sasuke nodded, and lifted his shirt to see his wound. It wasn't deep, and should be fine in the next couple of days, if he stitched it up.

"Anyway, I think we should just relax for a bit. There doesn't seem to be any threats. I can stand guard if you want, while you sleep." Naruto nodded, and Sasuke helped him to the bed. Naruto lay down, a content sigh escaping his lips. Sasuke smirked at him, and was reward with a middle finger.

Sasuke walked to the couch, sat down and began to stitch up his wound. Afterwards, Sasuke sat still and stared at the door. For several hours, in fact. The sun had gone up, and was slowly escaping the sky. After hours of endless staring, Sasuke couldn't help but close his eyelids for more than a minute, and he slipped into sleep.

~ ҉ ~

_5 years ago_

"_Naruto!"_

_Sasuke cried out, reaching out a hand he knew would not reach him. He could see the tears that fell from the blonde's face as he ran, and Sasuke couldn't describe the pain that was plastered there._

_Sasuke took two steps forward, leaning into a run when Kakashi's strong arm blocked his way._

"_You can't just let him leave!" Sasuke yelled at Kakashi, anger boiling inside him. Who cares if he was a damned jin-whatever-it-was-called! He was still Naruto! Still the blonde headed idiot that everyone had grown up with. He was not evil, nor a spawn of a demon._

_Kakashi's eye closed, taking in a breath._

"_Of course we can't let him leave, but we can't exactly go against the council." Kakashi murmured. The crowd around them was full with harsh words, scared 16 year olds, and soon it began to disband._

"_But… but we can't…we can't just leave him!" Sasuke hissed, hands balling into fists._

"_He's… he's the demon… From… from 16 years ago… he… He…" Sakura sobbed. She was sitting on the ground, arms wrapped around her legs, head buried in her knees. Heavy sobs wracked through her, and Sasuke felt a pang of sympathy._

"_Sakura, he's not the demon. You know that. He's still the same Naruto we've known. Still the same Naruto that was in our team… team 7. After everything he's done for us… he's still Naruto." Sasuke said to her, walking over and gently putting a hand on her shoulder._

_Still, Sakura cried, saying Naruto was a demon. Sasuke felt the sympathy slowly fade, replacing with anger._

"_For god's sake, Sakura! He's not that damn fox, alright!" Sasuke hissed, pulling his hand back and storming away. He heard Kakashi speaking to Sakura, but frankly, Sasuke didn't care. Naruto was their friend! How could she say that about him? He wasn't quite sure where he was headed, but sooner or later he found himself in the middle of the training field. Team 7's training field._

_It was hard to believe, that only a few hours ago, Team 7 were laughing, playing a silly old game together. But now, they were practically torn apart. Naruto forced out, Sakura terrified of what she deemed 'a demon', and Sasuke… he was morbidly confused. Naruto was the jinchuuriki… of Kyuubi, the 9 tailed fox… why did he never tell them? Did they mean nothing to him? Damnit, of course they meant something to him!_

_Sasuke sat on the ground, crossing his legs and resting his palms on his knees. Everything he thought, would turn back on the one statement. The one statement that would never, ever change. Naruto was still Naruto. It didn't matter if he had 10,000 stupid 9 tailed animals inside of him, or if he had a random 6__th__ toe. He was still Naruto._

_After what seemed like forever, (but was actually around 2 hours), Sasuke heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Sasuke turned his torso and saw Kakashi walking towards him. Kakashi had his hands stuffed into his pockets, and his hair looked abnormally messy. Well, it was normally messy in an oddly artistic way, yet now.. No, it had lost the effect._

"_Sakura, is at home, if you're wondering." Kakashi said, taking a seat beside Sasuke, stretching out his legs and leaning back on his arms. Sasuke snorted and glared at the dirt._

"_Sasuke, I know you're upset. But this is big news. She's a bit frightened at the moment, but I'm sure she'll come around." Kakashi looked sideways at Sasuke, who was staring towards the forest. Sasuke took in a breath, and let it out._

"_Why didn't he tell us?" Sasuke looked up at Kakashi, his face blank. But Kakashi could see, the worry deep in his eyes._

"_Let me ask you something. What do you think Naruto fears most?" Sasuke thought, before responding with, "being the jinchuuriki?" Sasuke asked, stupidly. Kakashi shook his head._

"_Rejection. His whole life, Naruto had been alone. The adults rejected him, the kids ignoring him. He wanted attention, because he never got any. Then, he found himself in team 7. With one person who loathed him, and another who was his biggest rival. He tried being nice, but again, was ignored. But of course, you guys grew up. You became friends. He didn't want to spoil that. But, it was. His biggest, scariest secret revealed, and was instantly rejected by those who knew him." Kakashi said, softly. Sasuke felt waves of guilt and sympathy._

"_I… I see…" Sasuke murmured, as he ran a finger through the dirt near his feet. He didn't realize that Naruto felt like that. Being ignored, being alone. Sasuke knew what it was like._

"_I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but there is a 'search and return' team being deployed. I'm not sure whose idea it was or who sent them, but 2 teams are heading out. One being a team of ANBU, the other being a team of Konoha Jounins. The Hokage never wanted that to happen, the revealing, in case you were wondering." Kakashi said, and Sasuke raised his head and looked up. The silver haired Jounin looked thoughtfully towards the sky._

"_Are you going, Sensei?" Sasuke asked. Kakashi sighed. "No, I'm not. They are Jounin who are not connected to Naruto. So, they don't personally know him, like me or Iruka." Kakashi said, lying back on the grass with his hands behind his head. Sasuke thought and nodded._

"_I don't really understand why… and isn't a 'search and return team' normally for bringing them back and… and…. Executing them?" Sasuke asked slowly. Kakashi shook his head._

"_Normally, yes. But I believe that they are returning him, to give him a trial or something. I'm not one hundred percent certain, all I can say is that he may be coming back." Kakashi replied. They talked a little more, before Kakashi was called to the Hokage's officer. Sasuke said goodbye, and headed to the Uchiha mansion. It was certainly going to be different without their londe headed teammate around._

~ ҉ ~

_A month had passed with no response from the search and return teams. Sasuke wasn't sure what to expect. Was Naruto really smart enough to stay hidden away? Sasuke was walking through the Hokage building. He had just returned from doing a B-rank mission._

_His hands stuffed into his pockets, a bored look on his face and his normally styled hair was unusually ruffled. So, it looked like… a ruffled duck's butt. Just as Sasuke was about to turn the corner, he heard a voice. A voice he hated since it had spoken a month ago. Waru._

"_What are the results of the 'search and return' team?" Waru asked, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he said 'search and return'. Sasuke couldn't identify the other person voice when it spoke._

"_No, the assassination attempt has failed. The Naruto boy is alive. Why you deemed it 'search and return' when it should have been 'assassination' I'll never know." _

"_Let me tell you something, ANBU. You should realize that in this village, there are some who would never turn on that demon boy. Those friends of his. Iruka, Kakashi, that Uchiha boy, that purple haired girl… I think she was a Hyuuga… and that troublesome Hokage, and the book writer. Apparently the all believe he has a soul, that he is good…" Scorn and hate laced Waru's words._

_Sasuke sucked in a breath and felt like dropping to the floor. It was all a hoax? It was meant to be an assassination? What. The. _Fuck_?_

"_I understand that, Waru-sama. You used the 'search and return' as a cover up." The supposed ANBU replied. He heard a snort and,_

"_For an ANBU, you are damned slow." And with that, Sasuke heard the sound of steps going in the opposite direction and a few minutes later, a 'poof'._

~ ҉ ~

"_Kakashi-sensei! _Kakashi sensei!"_ Sasuke almost screamed as he headed for the silver-haired man's house. Sasuke banged on the door when he arrived, each pound landing with an audible 'THUD'._

_A slightly surprised, half asleep Kakashi opened the door, rubbing his eye._

"_Sasuke? What is it?" Kakashi asked then paused. "How do you know where I live?"_

"_That team! The '_search and return'_ teams! They were _assassination_ teams!" Sasuke said, breathless from running. He put his hands on his knees and leant forward, panting. Kakashi stared at him wide eyed._

"_WHAT!" Kakashi yelled, fury building inside of him._

"_Waru… he sent them… it was all his fault! Naruto was going to get _assassinated_! The ANBU that Waru talked to said Naruto was still alive…" Sasuke explained the rest of the conversation and Kakashi sang out a string of swears._

"_Damn that Waru to hell and back and repeat a billion times!" Kakashi growled and then sprinted towards the Hokage's building._

_2 hours later…_

_Sasuke sat nervously in Kakashi's house. It was a little plain, and was not what the Uchiha was used to. Suddenly, he heard a poof sound and a crack, coming from the kitchen area. Sasuke rushed into it, and was greeted with the sight of Kakashi, bloodied, cut up and seemed ready to pass out._

"_Kakashi-sensei! Oh god, are you alright?" Sasuke ran over and helped his teacher over to the couch he had previously occupying._

"_I'm… I'm alright for now. That fucking Waru!" Kakashi grunted angrily as he came into contact with the cushions of the couch._

"_What happened?" Sasuke asked, before quickly running to find bandages. Kakashi looked horrible. There were several long gashes across his torso and legs, and several deeper wounds which were about the size and shape of Kunai. Bruises marred Kakashi's flesh, and both his eyes had swelled up. His Hidden Leaf Headband had presumable been ripped off, since both his normal and Sharigan eye were visible._

"_That Waru… the assassination team… he tried to deny it. Deny everything. The only thing that convinced me was the fact that he had a team of high ranking ANBU next to him, and that he ordered them, and this is a direct quote, '_kill him, do not let him spill that secret_'. I just managed to get away… one of the ANBU had directed a sword to my heart… it was an inch away when I… poof-ed…" Kakashi was panting for hard to get air, and Sasuke didn't know what to do. Kakashi bit his finger, and mumbled something Sasuke couldn't hear, and one of his Nin Dogs appeared in a small dusty cloud._

"_Kakashi!" The dog yipped, and Kakashi frowned. (Or at least, Sasuke thought he did. Only his eyes were visible). "Go… Get… Tsunade…ugh…" Kakashi passed out with that and the Nin Dog ran out the house. Sasuke panicked and attempted to bandage a wound to Kakashi's left arm._

~ ҉ ~

Present day

Sasuke woke, heart beating fast, sweat slowly trickling down his face and neck. He certainly hadn't wanted to remember that… but he did. He also remember that not to long after that Kakashi practically forbade Sasuke from searching for Naruto, in fear of him being beaten, or possibly killed.

Sasuke lifted his head from the back of the couch, and rubbed at the ache there. It was probably midnight, judging by how dark it was. Sasuke swore under his breath.

He got up, glanced at his stitched up wound and satisfied it wasn't going to break, walked over to the wall that separated the bedroom and the rest of the house. Sasuke saw Naruto lying there, his arms either side of his face, and legs spread at random angles. He had a goofy grin on his face and mumbling something about ramen. 'Stupid dobe…' Sasuke thought, shaking his head. He was damned annoyed that he had fallen asleep as a sentry, so he walked back to the couch, sat and continued staring at the door. He had possibly slept for around 12 hours, so he should be fine until tomorrow night.

Judging by the sun, it was probably around nine in the morning. Sasuke had spent the rest of the night sitting and staring, not doing much else. His eyes were incredibly itchy, and he was stiff and numb. Sasuke sighed. It was probably best to wake Naruto and change his bandages.

Sasuke got up, despite his limbs being assaulted by pins and needles, and walked (stumbled) to where Naruto slept.

"Naruto…" Sasuke said, standing at the end of the bed. Naruto moved, slightly lying at a new angle.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said louder, and a stubborn whine escaped Naruto's lips, and then something along the lines of, 'Stupid teme… leave me alone, I want to sleep…' Sasuke raised an eyebrow before poking Naruto in the foot.

"Get. Up." Sasuke said slowly, and Naruto stirred before lifting his eyes to meet Sasuke. Naruto looked annoyed.

"What?" Naruto growled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, the usual mask in place.

"Do you want me to re-do your bandages?" Sasuke asked. Naruto huffed and shook his head.

"Fine. At least let me check your wound then." Realizing Sasuke wasn't going to leave him unless he checked his wound, Naruto growled and reached up to unwrap the bandages. It surprised him that there was no pain. Sasuke gaped when the bandages fell away, revealing only what looked like a harsh, angry scar in the centre of Naruto's chest.

"What the hell happened? Did you train in medicine when I was gone?" After he said that, Sasuke felt like face-palming. No, no he didn't. he was too _stupid _for that.

Naruto looked up, uncertainty and fear obvious in his eyes.

"It wasn't me… it was Kyuubi…"

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto sat on the edge of the bathtub in the bathroom of his house. He very much knew Sasuke was sitting on the couch, reading, and carefully listening around. The full length mirror opposite to him was annoying. A crack ran through the middle of it, and it obscured his reflection.

Naruto was wearing a pair of bright orange pants, and his jacket and black T-shirt were sitting next to him. He knew his hair was longer, and maybe a bit darker than usual. The whiskers on his cheeks were more defined, and he was about 2 inches taller then what he had been at sixteen. Naruto could see the scar across his chest clearly. It ran from the middle of each of his breast' to the other. He hadn't realized the snake's fang had been that big, and he hadn't known that Kyuubi would have healed it so quickly.

Naruto was more or less recovering from a more then slightly awkward conversation with Sasuke about Kyuubi. Naruto had told Sasuke many things that had been going through his mind.

For one, Naruto had been deeply afraid that something was wrong with Kyuubi. Even if Kyuubi was the reason for the incident five years ago. Ever since that snake had bitten him, Naruto had not heard hair or hide of Kyuubi. It began to worry him, and Naruto had been feeling… lost without him.

Naruto thought that either the fox had managed to abandon him too, or that he had become seriously injured. Of course, he didn't want either of those to be true, but he would rather the latter to the former. In reality though, Kyuubi had merely locked himself away inside of his cage, trying to recover all of the chakra he had exposed to Naruto in order for the blonde to heal.

Naruto hadn't realized that Kyuubi had been slipping his chakra into the wound to heal it, nor did he realize the Kyuubi had been in his cage the whole time. This of course, made Naruto feel stupid.

Then, Sasuke asked an even more uncomfortable question, about how Kyuubi even came about to talking with Naruto. Naruto had to explain that it was on his sixteenth birthday, two months before him being forced out, that Kyuubi had first started to contact the blonde.

Naruto waved his head from side to side. Sasuke was slightly annoyed with the fact Naruto hadn't told him, but Naruto didn't really care. He sighed, and gently pulled his shirt over his head. He ruffled his blonde hair, and carried the jacket out with him.

Sasuke sat on the floor, legs crossed and glaring at some maps. Naruto noticed that he was taller too, and that his hair was longer. The same shade of colour, though. He doubted it could get _any_ darker.

"What'cha doin' Sars-kay?" Naruto purposely drawled, irritating the Uchiha further. He sat opposite to Sasuke and looked at the maps, too.

"Trying to find our location on the map, you dobe." He replied, pulling out a different map of the world ad looking on that.

"You won't find us. There's a reason this place is for _hidden _Nin… cause it's _hidden_!" Naruto chuckled. Sasuke let out an annoyed sigh.

"Yes, I can see that. What I meant was that damned archway. Where's that?" Sasuke grumbled. Naruto pondered for a moment, looked at the map then pointed to a random spot around 200kms inside of the fire country, from the border.

"Here." Naruto announced. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" Sasuke asked. He was sure that they were further away than that. Turns out they were only a three days walk from Konoha.

"Yep. There are thousands of archways. Just depends were you want to go.

"Then why did you point to that one?" Sasuke asked, curiously. Naruto stiffened for a moment, then slipped a fake grin on his face.

"Dunno. Just did. I'll mark out a few of the others I know." Naruto said quickly, then grabbing the pen that was next to Sasuke's leg, he began drawing a lot of little crosses on the map. There were about one hundred crossed in the Wind country, around twenty in the country of Rice, about 300 in the Fire country then around 100-200 in each other country.

"There." Naruto announce, dropping the pen and resting his hands on his knees.

"That still doesn't answer the whole, _why did you pick that one_, question…" Sasuke muttered, but obviously the blonde ignored him.

"Whatever! Anyway, why did you want to know?" Naruto asked.

"I'm trying to find a safe way back to Konoha. Can't have any more people attacking…" Sasuke's voice trailed off at the angered expression on the blonde's face.

"No! I'm not going back!" He raged, hands balling into fists.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked the immediately hated himself for asking. Naruto face went bright red and an angry growl passed through his lips.

"Why? _WHY_? I'll _fucking_ tell you _why_!" Naruto yelled, scrambling to his feet and pointed a clawed finger towards Sasuke. Anger was getting the better of Naruto, as the Kyuubi's chakra seeped into Naruto, changing his appearance. His whiskers jutted out, his eyes changed and became slits and his teeth sharpened along with his nails turning to claws.

"_Because that whole damn village hates me_! They would kill me if I go back! Rejected, do you remember? No! Why would you? You got to live in that damn village safe and sound, no worries, while if I wanted to go back to those who would still love me for me, I'd be risking my god damned life!" Naruto resisted the urge to wrap his hands around the startled Chicha's neck.

"You should damn well know that!" Naruto hissed, before storming into his room. A final, "I AM _NOT _GOING!" was yelled before Sasuke heard a thug of Naruto landing on his bed.

Sasuke sighed. He hadn't really expected that kind of reaction. Yes, he expected Naruto to be angry, but not angry enough to turn into a half-Kyuubi thing. That was _NOT_ expected.

"Naruto." Sasuke called, knowing the blonde could hear him. Since the bedroom wasn't a room by itself, he could hear him. "I'm letting you know, we won't be staying in the village. There's a place I know you could stay at that's outside the village. And also, there are people who don't hate you. There's Tsunade, Jiraya, Kakashi, Hinata and Iruka. And me, obviously." Sasuke said, shuffling the maps before packing them away. He purposely left out Sakura, but the only reaction he got was a quick sob and hiccup when the name wasn't mentioned.

"I'm also going to let you know, that I have to leave in three days' time." Sasuke said, pushing the maps onto his backpack and sitting on the couch. "I was sent on a mission, to go retrieve something for the Hokage. But obviously, that was a lie. She sent me to go find you. But if I stay any longer than three more days, people would get suspicious. Cause for me, I can retrieve things in only a couple of days."

Sasuke shook his head, "So I have to get going soon. So in case you change your mind, I'll stay for those three days. But I'm serious. Only 3 more days." Sasuke said before he left the house, going to buy more bandages from the medical store nearby.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto sniffed. He heard the door shut with Sasuke's leave, and he rolled onto his back. Only tree more days? Was that all he had? three days with his best friend… Naruto felt tears well up in his eyes. This was the first time in five years he had openly talked with someone from the village.

The reason he pointed to that damn archway, was because he always used it. Frequently, in fact. Naruto had discovered that particular archway around 3 years ago. Ever since then, he had been using _henge_ to go into the village, to see everyone. Of course, he was saddened each time he went. He would see the villagers smile, and laugh, not caring that Naruto was no longer in their village.

Naruto felt his heart squeeze painfully, and he rolled onto his side again. He curled up, not wanting anymore tears to flow. The hardest thing was, he wasn't able to talk to the people he loved most. Because, to him, they were too far gone.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

To say Naruto was pissed would be an understatement. He was so ruffled these days, that little tiny things would set him off. He blamed it on Sasuke. Why did he automatically assume that Naruto would be going back to the Village? Anger, resentment, rejection, pain, sadness… those were the feelings he got when he thought of the village.

It was the day after Sasuke had announced that he would be leaving. Naruto still felt mixed emotions about it. Did he want to go back? ... Debatable. Did he want Sasuke to leave? No. Did he want to be alone again? No. So he was currently at a stale mate with himself.

Sasuke had been coming and going all day, and most of yesterday. Naruto was annoyed, since Sasuke had practically put him on house arrest, because of the wound and the stupid Hunter Nin that attacked Sasuke the other day.

At the moment, Naruto was sitting alone on the couch, reading a book. It was a somewhat interesting book. He was just reading, not really taking in what it said.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke was uncharacteristically grinning when he got back, a mischievous look in his dark eyes. He carried a brown paper bag in one hand, and a small pouch of money in the other. Naruto was sitting on the couch, looking at a book. Naruto raised his blonde head and raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha.

"What?" Naruto asked as Sasuke walked over.

"Alright dobe, I'm going to give you one last bandage, since your healing fairly well." Sasuke motioned with his hands for Naruto to sit on the floor. Naruto looked at Sasuke with a suspicious glint in his eyes, as he slowly slid down on the ground. He pulled of his shirt and dropped it beside him. Sasuke walked to the couch and sat down behind Naruto. Since Naruto was not currently wearing a bandage, he grabbed one of the bandages from his bag and began to unravel the end.

"Why the sudden 'you need a bandage change'?" Naruto asked, reading the book, taking no notice of Sasuke or the bandage being wrapped around his chest.

"Hm.. dunno. Just in case that thing gets infected. If it did, I wouldn't be able to heal you." Sasuke said, smirking. Had he _REALLY_ not noticed?

"Sure, sure." Naruto responded, turning over a page.

"Hn. Hehe…. Naruto I'm done… " Sasuke chuckled, which was not something he did often. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha.

"What the hell is so funny, teme?" Naruto glared. Sasuke raised a finger and tapped the bandage that was wrapped around Naruto's chest. Naruto cocked his head to the side in confusion, than looked at the bandage.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Naruto screeched, scrambling onto his feet and staring at the bright, hot pink bandage currently wrapped around his chest. Sasuke smirked. Naruto didn't even notice he dropped his book.

"That, dobe, is for being difficult." Sasuke stood and pulled out a normal cream colour bandage from the bag, and wrapping it around his waist. His injury wasn't as bad as it could be, but it still needed protection from infection.

"…Teme." Naruto huffed before going back to reading his book. Sasuke smirked at him before lying back on the couch. After about an hour, Naruto spoke up.

"Hey Sasuke, is Konoha any different?" Naruto asked. Sure he had gone back and forth to Konoha with his henge on, but he still liked hearing about his Ex-village.

"Hn… not really. Everything is the same, I suppose. Sakura has been training with Tsunade. She's gotten stronger and she's learning to be a Medical Nin. The newer Genin's are so damn annoying. I swear, there's a few kids just like us when we were kids. Konohamaru is insisting on being the seventh Hokage." Sasuke shook his head with a smirk.

"The seventh? Why not the sixth?" Naruto asked curiously. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Konohamaru said that the Sixth will be you." Sasuke said, and Naruto hid the small smile that found its way on his face. "Anyway, Iruka is still teaching at the academy, your favourite Ramen place is still up and going… uhm… Tsunade has been busy a lot lately… that's about it." Sasuke said, absent mindedly scratching his stomach.

Naruto dropped his head in thought for a moment, before looking up. "What about Kakashi-sensei?"

Sasuke sighed and turned his head to look at Naruto. "How the hell am I supposed to know? He's gone missing nin."

"He's gone what!" Naruto almost screamed, twisting his torso around to meet the bemused Uchiha's face.

"M-i-s-s-i-n-g n-i-n!" Sasuke spelt out slowly and deliberately.

"Why?" Naruto gaped. Sasuke chuckled.

"Well, you see, he went to look for you, Waru found out and threatened to kill him, and me, if he went out to find you again. So Kakashi decided to go Missing Nin." Sasuke shrugged. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"You're not dead…" Naruto said, raising and eyebrow. Sasuke shrugged, turned his head to face the ceiling and closed his eyes.

"Because I'm stronger then that bag of bones." Sasuke yawned, obviously bored. "I've secretly been getting letters from him since he went missing nin… about two or three years back. He says he hasn't had luck finding you, and that's he currently looking through the Country of Rice… haha not on the right track, now is he?" Sasuke smirked. In fact, Sasuke had found Naruto in the Country of Wind, which is also where the Archway was that they used to get to the Missing Village.

"Wow… I… hmm…." Naruto scratched the back of his head.

There was a few moments of silent, only broken with Sasuke yawned again. Naruto had put his book to the side, apparently over reading.

"Hn. Hey Naruto, What's Kyuubi like?" Sasuke asked into the silence. Naruto scratched his chin. "I mean, you said you were upset about him not talking and stuff, but that's all you said. So, enlighten me."

"Well… Kyuubi had started talking to me after my sixteenth birthday, without me having to force myself near to his cage." Naruto scratched his head. It was a little difficult to explain that bit. Sure, he had talked to Kyuubi regarding the foxes Chakra, but that had been when Naruto was falling down a giant hole that Jiraiya had pushed him into. And the talks after that had always been at Kyuubi's cage. But now, they could talk through their thoughts, much like speaking. "Uh… he doesn't talk much. Not a very sociable guy, I guess. He does help me when I need the chakra, or for healing."

"Healing… hn. Never thought a giant evil fox would heal someone." Sasuke shook his head and Naruto huffed.

"He's not that… ok so he might be evil, but he's nice to me… sort of… But yes, he heals me when I need it. Cause I mean, if I died, so would he…" Naruto shrugged. "He's also really smart. He's the one who told me of the Missing Village, and where to find it, how to get into it, and the signs I needed."

Naruto continued to talk, swapping from subject to subject. Soon though, both fell asleep. The Uchiha, to the sound of Naruto talking so animatedly, and the blonde, of talking far to much.

It was safe to say, that nothing disturbed their much needed slumber.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter eight**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke woke early. It was possibly six in the morning, maybe seven. He had slept for a long time, but he thought it was probably the best sleep he had ever had. He went to sit up, and found that all his muscles protested. They hadn't appeared to like sleeping on a couch. Sasuke rubbed a hand over his face, dislodging the sleep from his eyes. His eyes flicked down, to see Naruto lying on the ground, asleep.

Naruto had fallen asleep around the same time Sasuke had, but had moved a lot during his slumber. He was now lying with his stomach on the ground, his right leg sitting awkwardly on the couch next to Sasuke's. Drool seeped from his slightly open mouth and his right arm disappearing under his chest and reappearing next to his cheek. Sasuke shook his head and half-heartedly attempted to straighten his hair. How the blonde managed to sleep like_ that_, he'd never know.

Sasuke stood, straightened out his clothes and got a feeling that there was something here. It was a feeling he got when he was on search and find missions. It's as though his conscious was telling him that important information was nearby, and he wanted… no, _needed_, to find it. He had been ignoring the feeling since he had been here, but now it was amplified. He thought it was because of his departure tomorrow.

Of course, he didn't know where to look first. He searched through the kitchen cupboards, with no luck. Then, (and heaven protect him from it) the bathroom cupboards. Somehow, Sasuke had managed to hold his breath for a full minute whilst in there. God, did it smell horrid! Sasuke quickly fled the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He stood with a hand on his hip, and his eyes ran over the area. There wasn't much here, but the feeling was nagging him.

Finally, Sasuke walked into Naruto's bedroom. There were bedside tables, a bed and… a large metal trunk with a padlock on it. The feeling amplified when Sasuke's eyes fell onto the trunk. Was that it?

Sasuke walked over, and crouched next to it. Doing a simple Lock Picking Jutsu, he dropped the padlock on the ground, and the trunk opened a sliver, as though begging to be opened. Sasuke looked over his shoulder, then gently lifted the lid.

What the heck? The trunk was filled with paper, scrunched up and folded. And then, a manila folder lying on the bottom, which could be barely seen over the mound of paper. He unravelled a scrunched up sheet, which turned out to be a photo. Sasuke rubbed the surface of the photo, in confusion. It was the first picture taken of Team 7. Kakashi stood in the back, with the 3 thirteen year old Genin in the front. Sasuke on the left, looking as bored as ever. Sakura in the middle with her hands up under her chin, a huge smile planted on her face. Thus, leaving Naruto on the right, he had his arms crossed angrily, an ugly frown on his face, his eyes glaring towards the Uchiha. This was their official team 7 photo. Sasuke put the photo down, letting a small frown crease his normally idle features. Why such an old photo?

Other pieces of folded and scrunched up letters revealed to be unsent letters. All of them saying the same thing, but being sent to different people. They were to be sent to Sakura, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Iruka and himself. He quickly scanned the letter.

'_hey! It's me… Naruto. I'm letting you know, I'm not dead. I'm hiding. I'm sorry about how I left._

_It's not my fault. I didn't choose to be a Jinchuuriki. I only found out when I was thirteen, the day I graduated. I realize why all the adults hated me as a child… its cause of Kyuubi, right? But now, everyone knows…_'

Sasuke dropped the letters, none too carefully, onto the floor. He couldn't read any more. It was a lot longer then what he had read, and went into details about his feelings, and how it hurt. Sasuke felt guilt and dread running through him, so he didn't want to feel any worse.

Finally, Sasuke went to grab the manila folder. The front read, '_Chi no noroi_.' Sasuke raised an eyebrow. The 'Curse of blood', huh? Just as he was about to turn the cover, a strong hand pressed into his shoulder. Sasuke quickly shoved the folder into the trunk and snapped his neck to the side, and met the angry glare of Naruto.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Sasuke?" Naruto's voice was hard, and cold. A small shiver ran down Sasuke's spine at the tone. Wow, could Naruto really be that pissed off? Apparently, yes. Sasuke swallowed, before pulling on his normal stoic face.

"Is there are something you're not telling me, Naruto?" Sasuke said, standing and turning, then was abruptly pushed against the wall with a kunai pressed to his throat.

"Yes, I'm not telling you things, because they do not concern you. And what the hell were you doing, going through my stuff?" The kunai was pressed further into Sasuke's neck, and Naruto was beginning to be overtaken with rage. His whiskers were defined again, his eyes slitted and his nails sharp.

"I felt as though you were hiding something," Sasuke said calmy, though in the inside he was freaking, as the kunai was pressed tighter. Any tighter, and it would break the skin, "so I wanted to see if there was any information that I should have known…" Sasuke croaked. Naruto took a hesitant step backwards, before deftly slamming the trunk's lid with a loud '_THUD_'. A mound of dust blew from the lid as it made contact with the bottom shell of the trunk, and the dust settles at their feet.

"Yes. I am hiding things. Doesn't everyone? You don't have to know everything that goes on with me; I am more than capable to handle a few things on my own." Naruto stuffed the kunai back into his pocket, and glared at the wall besides Sasuke's head. The Uchiha swallowed, feeling his composure slipping slightly.

"Yes, I realize that you can handle yourself. You have been doing so, for the past five years." Sasuke muttered, rubbing at his neck absentmindedly. It wasn't hurting, but he had been, momentarily, worried that Naruto would actually cut his throat.

"God dammit, Sasuke. I want you to keep away from my stuff. If I see you anywhere near that trunk, I will spill that oh-so-fucking-special Uchiha blood of yours." Naruto threatened, and Sasuke knew he wasn't joking. Naruto never said fuck.

Naruto bit his finger, did a few hand signals and said angrily, "Summoning Jutsu!" and a puff of smoke erupted from his hands. As the smoke dispersed, and annoyed looking brown toad was seen. He was up to Naruto's knees, and he had a scowl on his lips.

"Gamataikobara _(1)_. Keep an eye on him, and do not let him leave, look at or in any of my stuff.

"Sure, sure Naruto." Gamataikobara replied, before pulling a semi-long sword from his waist. "Now Uchiha, get the hell out of Naruto's room, and get on the couch!" The toad ordered. The Uchiha nodded, annoyed and bitter, before plucking himself down on the couch. Naruto eyed his raven haired companion, before glaring at the ground.

"I'm going out. If you ignore what I told you, Gamataikobara will kill you. Or possibly serious harm you, so I can kill you later." Naruto spoke angrily, and with that he walked out the door, leaving his mask and cloak behind, and Sasuke was left with the unwanted company of Gamataikobara.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto glared at the river. It was a good idea to calm down. His head was leant against his right knee, and his left leg was sitting in the water. His hands were wrapped around his right leg, too. Naruto sighed heavily, before grabbing a nearby stone and flicking in into the water. It skipped along, as though it was free, before sinking into the water, to its own horrible –_figurative_- death.

A small rustle brought Naruto's attention back to himself. He sat, as though he didn't hear it, and he heard a rock tap against another. So, the thing was coming to him, huh? After an extra moment of waiting, he sprang up, drawing a kunai and throwing it towards the thing. A puff of smoke surrounded what the kunai hit, and it revealed a brown sawn off log. So, at least he could rule off a beast of some sort.

Naruto jumped away as a torrent of water, which seemed like a 'Mizu kyapucha' _(2)_ Jutsu, hit the ground next to him. The torrent bent and swirled towards Naruto, aiming to grab at his feet. Naruto cursed, before using his 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu', and several Shadow clones appeared. The clones and the real Naruto jumped in different directions, and the water torrent hit the ground and promptly divided into six smaller torrents with each torrent heading for a clone and the original. His opponent was now standing on the water, his left hand holding half of the tiger sign, with his right up in the air, holding the other half. His opponent was wearing what looked like dark ANBU clothing, but instead of the dark blues and blacks, it was a rich blood red colour with black bandages wrapped around their leg. A dark red panther mask was covering the opponents face, and their hair covered by a blood red hood.

The opponent then brought down the hand in the air, did a few more signs which vaguely looked like, Dragon Horse Monkey Rabbit Boar, then another 'Mizu Kyapucha' Jutsu flew out, but this time, instead of the one torrent, it was six large ones that flew after Naruto and his clones.

Naruto swore under his breath, as he and each of his clones were chased by one large and one small torrent of water. Three of Naruto's clones poof-ed when they were struck by the water torrents. Naruto dodged the torrents of water that were after him, and dropped to the ground. He bit his thumb, did a few hand signs and slammed his hand on the ground, yelling "Summoning Jutsu!"

An eruption of black smoke wafted around Naruto just as the two torrents of water came down. Then suddenly, the two other clones disappeared (who were both wearing demonic smirks) as the water torrents, which were previously after Naruto, were reflected heading to his opponent. The opponent managed to end his Jutsu and the torrents of water fell helplessly onto the ground.

As the black smoke disappeared, Naruto's opponent watched in shock as a black fox with 4 tails sprang towards him _(3)_. The shocking thing was though, that this fox was possibly the size of a small Shetland pony. The fox was wearing an open orange jacket that was sleeveless. It was also wearing a dark orange eye patch over its right eye, with numeral red scars over its body. The fox's claws, which were surprisingly an orange colour, threatened to rip out his jugular as its claws came in close vicinity to his neck.

Naruto watched as his opponent sparred with Diasuke, the black fox. A somewhat satisfied smile found its way onto his whiskered face when Diasuke's paw flew up and lopped a chunk of the panther mask off his opponents face. Naruto's opponent stumbled back suddenly, as Diasuke took a step back, crouching down. Naruto's opponent raised a hand to his face, hovering where the hole was, before he turned towards Naruto. Confusion swept through the blonde.

The area of the mask that was removed, showed the left eye of the person. The left eye showed a deep red iris, a Sharingan. '_Itachi? Sasuke? What? No, it can't be those guys. Sasuke wouldn't attack me! And Itachi… No... It's not him… It wouldn't be, not after… ugh! There are only two people I know who can use the Sharigan!'_ Naruto thought madly, his fists clenching as he focused on his opponent. He almost cursed when Diasuke shot forward, causing his opponent's attention to be drawn to him.

His opponent suddenly jumped up to a tree branch, attempting to hide the Sharingan eye. Naruto found this odd, and went to jump after him when Diasuke stepped in front of the blonde, stopping him. Naruto arched a blonde brow towards the Fox.

"There's no use. He's already gone." The fox grumbled, and sure enough when Naruto looked, his opponent was gone.

"Thanks for coming Diasuke. But I think I'm going to be okay now…" Naruto shook his head. Diasuke gave Naruto a quick worried frown before nodding and poofing away. Naruto ran a hand through his blonde hair. He should probably tell Sasuke about this.

Who was that person? It was plausible that the person was a Missing Nin, since he was inside the Missing Village. But that didn't really explain why he had attack Naruto.

Guess that proves; When you're not covered up, someone _will_ try to kill you.

~ ҉ ~

**1 – Gamataikobara, OC toad summon.**

**2- Mizu Kyapucha, Water Capture.**

**3 – Diasuke, an OC fox summon.**

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter nine**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

When Naruto returned, it was just after midnight. The dark sky was alone, all the stars hiding behind clouds or not bothering to show at all, and the wind blowing smoothly. Naruto gently opened the door, not wanting to make any loud noises. Naruto saw a dark figure sitting on the couch, seeming asleep. Thanks to Kyuubi, Naruto could see in the dark better than usual, but not as clear as he would have liked. Naruto let out a small sigh, clicked the door shut behind him and went into his bedroom.

The trunk in his room was in the same spot, but the lid was closed and padlocked. Naruto bent and fiddled with the lock. He would probably need to find a better one. Maybe one that would only unlock with his chakra… hmm…

A sudden grunt from behind made Naruto turn to see Gamataikobara leaning against the separating wall. His face was as grim as usual, and his sword hung on the toad's hip.

"I'm letting you know, that the Uchiha has not stepped foot into this area of your home." He said, his toadlike speech lacing his words. It more or less came out as an understandable croak. Naruto nodded, said his thanks and Gamataikobara relieved himself of duty with a 'pop'.

Naruto fell onto the edge of his bed, with his head in his hands. He was tired, hungry and too worked up to sleep. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying to de-stress. The opponent he fought before was a mystery. A Sharingan? Naruto couldn't decide who it might have been. Itachi was gone, and it wouldn't have been Sasuke. At the present moment, nothing else came to his mind.

'_Trying looking underneath the obvious_.' Kyuubi's tired voice came to Naruto's ears.

"Meaning…?" Naruto asked softly. Kyuubi was still tired from the healing?

'_Brat. If you can't understand what that means, then you won't figure out who it is._' Kyuubi responded, a soft snicker following his words.

"Oh, and I suppose you know who it is?" Naruto scoffed. He felt Kyuubi nod.

'_Yeah, I know who_.' Kyuubi said before pulling away. Naruto shook his head. Of course, Kyuubi wouldn't help him. Either he was too tired to, or he was trying to prove a point.

Naruto lay down on the bed, scratched his stomach and tried to sleep. Unfortunately, he couldn't fall asleep, and cursed when the sun began to rise.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke opened his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck. Damn, he hated sleeping on a couch. The sun was now peeping over the horizon and sending gold streaks across the floor. Sasuke stood, bracing his hands on his hips and leaning back, causing several vertebrae in his back to crack back into place.

He looked through cupboards, wanting to find something for breakfast. He looked around and spotted a pot plant on a window sill. He raised an eyebrow and walked over. A small card sat next to the plant and Sasuke read it.

'_Teme. Since you're supposed to be leaving today, I thought you might_

_like something other than ramen for breakfast._'

Sasuke flipped the card through his fingers and looked at the plant. His lips twitched, a smile threatening to break through. Tomatoes, eh? The plant was dotted with small cherry tomatoes.

Sasuke broke a couple off, put one into his mouth and chewed. It was nice to have tomatoes after several days of Ramen. _Bleck_.

Naruto was not in sight, so Sasuke walked near the entrance of the bedroom (he wasn't game enough to go into it after yesterday).

Naruto was lying face first into the mattress, soft snores escaping his lips. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before, and his hair was dishevelled. From the corner of his eye, Sasuke noticed the trunk was still open, but a replacement lock was lying next to it. Naruto muttered something in his sleep, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Oi, Dobe. Wake up."

"Baka…" Naruto muttered, apparently still asleep. Sasuke tapped his fist against the wall, knocking.

"Naruto. It's time for me to leave…" Sasuke announced, voice louder than before. This roused Naruto from sleep, and the blonde lifted his head, and then his body slowly followed. Naruto now sat cross-legged on the bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Leaving so soon?" Naruto yawned. Sasuke shook his head.

"Yes. If I leave now, I can make it back to Konoha in a day if I run." Sasuke said. Naruto gave a final yawn before lifting himself off the bed. Strangely enough, he grabbed an empty bag from under the bed and began to fill it with scrolls, kunai and he retrieved the manila folder and stuffed that into the bag too.

"What's that for?" Sasuke asked. Naruto paused, swallowed, and looked at Sasuke, his face almost emotionless. _Almost_. Sasuke could see the fear hiding behind his eyes.

"This," Naruto gestured to the bag in his grasp, "Is for the trip. I can't just leave here empty handed." Naruto huffed, before moving into the kitchen.

"You're coming? But you said-"

"I know what I said. But I've… I've changed my mind." Naruto said, pushing a ramen-cup into the already half full bag. Hey, if they found a stream or something, he could cook some ramen…

"And what made you do that? You were pretty adamant about not going." Sasuke said, coming into the kitchen and leaning against the counter. Naruto merely shrugged and dropped the bag onto the ground. He grabbed his mask and cape off the hook and pulled them on. A few strands of blonde hair were seen under the cloak, but Naruto didn't seem to mind.

"Are we going, or what?" Naruto's voice was slightly muffled by the mask, but Sasuke could understand him. Sasuke walked over to the tomato plant, pulled the rest of the miniature fruits off, and pushed them into his mouth, all the while giving Naruto a look through the corner of his eye. Naruto shifted uncomfortably, and headed towards the door.

Sasuke followed, and soon they reached the archway.

"Now, do you want to go to the closest archway to Konoha?" Naruto asked, moving his hands in front of him and doing the hand signs. Sasuke merely nodded, and tried to prepare his stomach for the transition.

Unfortunately, Sasuke had to (again) empty the contents of his stomach once they left the void (as Naruto had so kindly named it). Naruto waited patiently for Sasuke to finish puking, and then they began to walk again. Apparently though, Naruto seemed to be in no hurry to get there, taking each of his steps slowly. At this rate, it would be three days before reaching Konoha.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel uncertain. He knew Naruto didn't want to come to the village, but he was coming with him anyway. Sasuke scratched the back of his arm as they walked, while Naruto looked around. Sasuke thought that his actions were somewhat paranoid.

~ ҉ ~

It was around 9pm when they decided to pack up camp. They were another two days walk from Konoha, and Naruto seemed as stressed as he was when they had left. Sasuke had been the one to suggest stopping and camping. Naruto had nodded almost immediately, and picked a large bent tree as the camp spot. It was a nice looking tree, to say the least. It would probably reach almost twenty feet high, if it had not been bending over so that its leaves brushed against the earth. Almost as though it was bowing to them.

Sasuke had started a camp fire, using one of his Fire Jutsu. Naruto was sitting back relaxing against the base of the tree, his hood down and mask bunched up around his neck.

"So. What made you change your mind?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked at Sasuke and then cast his gaze downwards. Apparently, they were not going to discuss the subject. So, Sasuke decided to try a different approach.

"Ok then. If you won't talk about that… why do you have the old picture of us, rather than a more recent one?" Sasuke said, poking the fire. Naruto took a deep breath in, and then let it out. He shifted closer to the fire, so he was almost a metre away. Sasuke thought that the shadows of the fire gave Naruto a somewhat haunted appearance.

"I think…" Naruto said, almost whispering, "That I would rather have a picture of us, when we were all happy. When we were a team and friends, rather than having a picture of us just before… Just before everything went bad, before I was rejected by the village and… and Sakura…" Naruto trailed off, nice eyes seeming distant and lost in thought.

Sasuke sighed, letting the subject drop. After a few silent minutes, Naruto let his eyes slid shut and drifted of to sleep. Sasuke looked over at Naruto, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Who would have know that someone has strong as Naruto, could have gone through so much pain? All this turmoil, anger and pain...

Sasuke closed his eyes, and alowwed himself to drift off too.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter ten**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

The day grew hotter as Sasuke and Naruto continued their walk to Konoha. Sasuke could still feel the uncertainty and fear that Naruto was practically radiating, and it worried him (although he would never admit to it). Sasuke watched Naruto out of the corner of his eye, as Naruto twitched nervously, fiddled with his fingers and looked around at random times. Sasuke scratched his side, just above his wound, and stared ahead.

Naruto felt an uncomfortable pressure in his head. Worry crowded his mind, fear probably obvious in his eyes. Although his face was blank, he knew that Sasuke could see the little twitches or shifting gaze that Naruto did. Naruto let out a small sigh, and shifted into a Henge as a lady and her son walked past.

The lady nodded to Sasuke and the covered up Naruto, and pulled on her son's hand. The son looked back at Sasuke and Naruto, smiled a toothy grin before turning around. Naruto scratched his head and stopped walking.

"You know, it's hard to remember people smiling at me. I mean, I've had you around but all you do is smirk at me. And everyone in the Hidden Village hid their faces." Naruto said, voice laced with surprise. Sasuke turned his head, also stopped walking and looked at Naruto.

"Hn." Was all he said before walking on. Naruto rolled his eyes and followed. When he felt safe enough, he released his Jutsu and kept walking.

~ ҉ ~

The sun well lower into the sky, as it unwillingly dimmered. Sasuke and Naruto were now closer to Konoha, and Naruto was getting more worried the closer they got.

"Naruto. Let's camp here." Sasuke suggested, slowing down and sliding his bag off one shoulder.

"No way! There's still hours of daylight left! We should-"

"Naruto. No. An idiot could tell how scared you are. Sit down." Sasuke said walking over, and shoved Naruto in the shoulder so he fell down onto his but. Naruto watched Sasuke uncertainly. Sasuke, in a matter of minutes, found enough sticks and dry stuffs to make a fire. As the flames began to crawl skywards, Sasuke sat opposite to Naruto.

"Why are you coming? And no bull shit this time." Sasuke said, watching the flames. Naruto stared at the fire some more, before sighing.

"I miss the ramen shop."

"That's a lie."

"I want to take revenge on Konoha."

"That's another lie."

"I want-"

"Oh for fucks sake Naruto! I said no bullshit! So get the hell on with it!" Sasuke hissed, fisting his hands and slamming them into the earth. Naruto jumped, before taking a deep breath in, then out.

"Well… the reason is… you know that… file?" Naruto said, scratching the inside of his arm. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and kept his face bank.

"Well… it… it c-contains-"

_BANG!_

Naruto feel forwards as something exploded against the tree behind him. Sasuke immediately became alert and jumped to his feet, hands braced to draw his katana. Naruto scrambled up, fixed his cloak up, and turned quickly. What the hell was that?

As the smoke from the explosion died down, the forest fell quiet. Whatever set the explosion off was gone. Sasuke cautiously walked over to the tree and examined it. Black marked the bark of the tree, and small strips of white lay at the base of the tree. Sasuke reached down, picked up a strip and examined it.

"This came from an exploding tag? Crap. Naruto I think we should… Naruto?" Sasuke turned around and saw his blonde friend staring at the fire. His face was blank and his eyes haunted

"It was the same guy…" He muttered. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"The other day… when you pissed me off and I left and made my toad summon watch you… I was sitting at a river… and I was attacked by a person wearing blood red clothes. He wore a mask too… and… and… he had a shar…." Naruto stopped his sentence at the look on Sasuke face. It was often you found an Uchiha looking confused.

"A shar….Shark?" Sasuke asked, anger flickering behind the confusion in his eyes. It wouldn't have worrier Naruto as much, since Sasuke always used to get angry, but the anger was overcoming the confusion, until there was no confusion. Just anger. Cold, hard anger.

"What? No. where the hell would he get a shark from? Unless, of course it walked on legs and… ooohhh…" Naruto's mouth made an 'O' which slowly shrank. Of course, he'd thought of Kisame… so he thought of…

"Uh… hehe…" Naruto offered a nervous laugh, and found the hem of his cloak suddenly fascinating. "It… it wasn't Itachi… that i was facing… it wasn't him…" Naruto whispered, causing Sasuke's head to shoot up.

"What do…. What do you know about Itachi?" Sasuke said slowly. Naruto gulped.

"I would tell you… but it… it's too…" Naruto struggled to get the words from his mouth, and each pause he took he saw Sasuke getting angrier.

"I can't tell you at the moment… soon though… I'll tell you soon…" Naruto took in a deep breath and let it out, waiting from Sasuke to blow up at him. Great…

An ear splitting crack made Naruto look up, and make an unmanly squeak when he saw the tree that had previously exploded, now was cut through the length of the tree. The tree groaned as it's now two sides bent down towards the earth and cracked as they hit the ground.

The earth shook heavily, and almost caused Naruto to topple over. Naruto looked over at Sasuke hesitantly, but he could not see his face. Sasuke's back was to Naruto and his face was forward.

Naruto lay on the ground and curled into the foetal position to sleep, letting on hand rest under his head as a make-shift pillow. He didn't bother getting a blanket from the bags, so he just slept in his cloak and mask. Naruto had almost slipped up two of his secrets. And now Sasuke knew what they were about.

The file and… Itachi…

"I'm… I'm sorry Sasuke… I'm always… I'm always screwing things up…"

~ ҉ ~

The long trip was now over. It was their third day into the trip, and Konoha could be seen on the horizon.

"Almost there…" Naruto muttered to himself, scratching the back of his neck. Him and Sasuke had not exchanged words since the discussion the previous night. In fact, only a kick on the shoulder was what woke Naruto up and Sasuke was already half was down the road. So Naruto had had to quickly repack and run after him.

Sasuke grunted in reply, and began to pick up his pace. His side wasn't bothering him as much, since it was healing up well, so he broke into a run. He heard Naruto yell out, and then scramble forwards into a run too.

The wound in Naruto's chest was aching slightly, but not too bad since it was almost healed. He stumbled one or twice, tripping over the rim of his cloak. Naruto felt a sudden urge to flee, but fought against it. He had to do this. He _had_ to.

Sasuke came to a stop some few minutes later, slowly coming to a stop. Naruto slowed down too, stopping about a metre behind Sasuke. (_Ninja's and their stupid lightning fast running…)_

Sasuke stared open eyed at what lay infront of them. Naruto looked around his shoulder, not quite getting it.

"Soo… where are we?" Naruto said doubtfully. A heavy brown coloured log cabin lay before them, hidden amongst the tree's. "I know Konoha is like…. Just over there, so why are we… here?" Don't get him wrong, Naruto definitely did not want to be near Konoha, but he was still curious about their whereabouts.

"We are at an old cabin that Tsunade had built for your arrival." Sasuke replied, which was the only communication he had given Naruto the whole of the day. Naruto looked at him sideways.

"She knew I was coming…" He said grimly, his mouth set in a girm line.

"Well, yes and no. She had a suspicion, but couldn't be sure." Sasuke said matter-of-factly, walking forwards and unlocking the cabin door. They were greeted with a pine scented air as they walked into the room. The cabin was about as big as Naruto's apartment in the Hidden Village, with its walls nice and high at nine foot high. Nice and airy.

The cabin was complete with wooden furniture, that were coloured with orange cushions and trimming. The kitchen was clean and tidy, also made from wood but had an orangey coloured marble top. There was also a fully stocked, cupboard (that was about two metres wide, touched the floor and ceiling) full of ramen. Ramen. The thought made Naruto grin.

Naruto jumped in past Sasuke, walking into the cabin. Two separate rooms were on the far room, one being a bathroom and a bedroom. The bathroom had a wooden interior too, and a nice big spa like bath sat in ground, in the corner. Naruto looked into the bedroom next, to find a double, four post bed in the middle of the far wall, with an orange overlay and soft, yellow transparent curtains hanging off the posts.

Naruto walked back out, scratching the back of his head to find Sasuke in the kitchen, chopping up what looked like… vegetables.

"This is… a bit over the top, don't you think?" Naruto asked, walking to the kitchen bench. Sasuke was, indeed, chopping up vegetables.

"Well, I guess it's fit for a Hokage, I'll give you that…" Sasuke muttered, picking up the slices of a cut tomatoe and pushing one into his mouth. Naruto liked the opinion, but suddenly felt bad about it.

"Yeah well, I doubt I'll be Hokage any time soon." Naruto shook his head and sat on an orange-cushion adorned couch that was sitting against the wall.

"Well, don't give up on that dream any time soon. Hate to run and leave you, but I have to go give a report on the… mission." Sasuke shook his head, waved goodbye over his shoulder and headed for Konoha.

~ ҉ ~

Tsunade sat in her office, sorting through a barrage of paper and reports. A sudden pop made her jump, sending two stacks of the piles down. Which just happen to have been the ones she had sorted…

"Who is it now?" She yelled, running one hand over her smooth, blonde hair and the other half-heartedly reaching for one of the falling piles.

"Gee, not excited to see me?" Sarcasm laced the bored sounding voice and Tsunade looked up to see the young Uchiha standing before her.

"Sasuke! Did you… is he…?"

"Yeah, I found him. He's here. At the cabin. He was… uncertain at first. Probably still is, but I think hes calmed down a little bit since we left." Sasuke said before Tsunade could ask. She nodded thoughtfully, grabbing a handful of papers to begin re-stacking.

"Does he need anything?" Tsunade asked, only minutes away from asking to go see the brat.

"Time to calm down completely. So, no visitors until I say." Sasuke said, cracking his knuckles and looking out the window. "I'm going to give him time before he can see anyone, or come any closer to Konoha. One, for his own safety. After all these years, the villagers still despise him, maybe want to kill him, though I doubt it. So until I know he is ready, he won't be coming into Konoha. the second, I am not sure how he will actually react once inside the walls. For all we know, he could suddenly go biserk and destroy it."

"I understand, Sasuke. Let me know when he is ready to come in. Should I let some people know of his return?" Tsunade asked, leaning forward slightly.

"No. No one else should know. Especially not the council. If they find-"

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" the door to the office blew open with such force, the once-again neated pile of files blew up all over the place, sending Tsunade into a mini-rage.

"_SHIZUNE_!" Tsunade screamed, standing and throwing her hands up. The woman in question had a look of minor horror plastered onto her face, and her hands were brought up defensively over her chest and face.

"I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama… but… there…the council…" Shizune gulped, before steadying her breath. "the council wishes to see you immediately." Tsunade slouched back into her seat, bringing a hand up to support her head.

"Right. The meeting. I forgot about that…" Tsunade said, her voice heavy and suddenly very, very tired.

"Sasuke… you may go now." Tsunade dismissed the Uchiha with a wave of her hand. He nodded once before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Shizune looked between Tsunade and the spot where Sasuke disappeared.

"Uh… Did I interrupt something?"

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke stood in front of the Hokage building. He walked slowly through the village. This of course, was only for show. If her didn't, the villagers would get suspicious of him. They always had been, ever since the event five years ago.

He was greeted by a few villagers on his way, and some even tried to draw him into a conversation. As Sasuke walked, a sudden high pitched "_SASUKE!" _met his ears. Resisting the urge to cover his ears with his hands, Sasuke turned to see a flurry of pink hair fly towards him. He only just managed to block the hug that she tried to give him.

Sakura smiled widely at her teammate, standing back to give the Uchiha his much loved space.

"Sasuke! How was your mission? Did it go well? Were you successful? I mean, of course you were!" Sakura said, raising a hand her hand to her mouth to cover a small giggle.

"It was fine. Everything went according to… plan." Sasuke said, taking a slight step back as Sakura leant forward.

"That's good to hear, Sasuke!" Sakura said, leaning back. a small glint in her eye was the only signal that his step back disappointed her. Sasuke looked towards the insight Konoha gates, then back to Sakura.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but I really have to go." He frowned at her, when she crossed her arms and pouted.

"Don't tell me you got another mission again… we've barely talked, and you only just got back!" Sakura said crossly. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"No, I'm not on another mission, I just have to go."

"Then you can stay and talk with me! I'll even treat you to a meal, if it means you'll stay!" Sakura said, half-heartedly attempting to grab at his arm. Sasuke grabbed her wrist and moved it away form himself, looking at her in the eyes.

"Sakura. I am not going to stay and talk. I told you, I have to go. And plus, you'll only go telling everyone that we went on a date if we went to eat. And I do not want that sort of rumor spreading around." Sasuke said, anger beginning to simmer. Sakura turned a hard eye on him.

"Huh. You're hiding something then. Because, as far as I know, nothing important in this village would make you hurry there. You have all the free time in the world, since you're one of the lucky few people who can actually choose when they want a mission." Sakura leant forward, looking into his eyes.

"And if I know you, you'd only spend your free time reading anyway. What are you hiding?"

"Sakura. Back. Off. I do not want to have to deal with you now." Sasuke said through gritted teeth. Sakura leant back, something clicking into her mind.

"Oh. I get it…" Sakura half-snorted, looking at the ground with pain and sadness in her eyes. "You're still angry…" She looked up at Sasuke, her eyes pleading. "It's been five years Sasuke… years… can't you forgive me for that yet?"

"Do you accept _him_ as himself, and not a demon?" Sasuke said abruptedly.

"Well… I…" Sakura hesitated.

"Answer me."

"No, I don't, okay?"

"Then no, I won't forgive you yet." Sasuke said harshly, turning to leave. Feeling suddenly desperate, Sakura jumped over to Sasuke, clutching at his arm, causing him to turn back around to face her.

"Sasuke, please! Please!" Sakura cried at him, then suddenly felt anger flow off the Uchiha.

"Unhand me… _now_" Sasuke said, voice hard. He brought one hand up, and clenched it around the top half of her arm. of course, she could have thrown him off as easily as if he were a fly, but she never used her strength against him. Never.

"H-hey now! No need to fight!" a new voice suddenly broke through the tension, and Sasuke and Sakura turned to face the new comer. This person had dull brown hair, brown eyes and was wearing a simple brown shirt and black trousers. The person looked worried, and had his hands up in an attempted peace gesture.

Of course, Sasuke immediately knew who the person was and let go of Sakura and shook her hands off of him. Sakura turned to the person and glared.

"And who the hell are you?"

~ ҉ ~

Naruto lazed back on the couch. It had been all of five minutes since Sasuke left, and he was bored. He hadn't thought of bringing entertainment at all…

Naruto sat up rubbed his eyes and stared at the front door. Maybe he could… no, he better not… but… he could… Naruto shook his head and looked ahead, brought his hands up and said, "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"_

Now, Naruto was looking at the clone of himself. Each brought up a hand, looked at each other squarely and said, "_Rock, Paper, Scissors_!"

Naruto had his hand in a fist, whilst his clone had his hands in a horizontal peace sign. The real Naruto grinned triumpently, while his clone frowned. Naruto stood, his clone disappeared, and he walked quietly to the door.

"Henge…" Naruto whispered, as he opened the door. As he walked through the door, a puff of smoke covered him, and a brown haired, browned eyed person left the smoke.

~ ҉ ~

"I…I'm…" The brown eyed person stuttered, standing upright and looking around quickly. "Jari! I'm Jari!" Sakura looked doubtfully towards he feet, moved her foot around the back at the person.

"Jari?" Sakura said, while thinking, "_gravel?"_

"Yeah! Jari … Nara! I'm Shikamaru's cousin!" the person said quickly, then smiled to himself. Sakura saw Sasuke's eye twitch at the confession, and her look turned doubtful.

"… Jari… I better take you back… before you get yourself hurt." Sasuke said through clenched teeth, grabbing a tight hold onto 'Jari's' upper arm and dragging him away. Sakura raised an eyebrow at both men before turning away. Her suspicion was very high now.

~ ҉ ~

"What the hell were you thinking, you Dobe?" Sasuke said angrily back at the cabin. 'Jari' frowned at the Uchiha before dispersing the Henge. Naruto looked out the window and back to Sasuke.

"I don't know. Sight seeing?" He said sadly. His eyes had a guilty look to them, but also sadness. They were very sad. Sasuke took a deep breath in, and then out again.

"What did you hear?" Sasuke said, looking at the floor. If Naruto saw the sudden flash of sympathy in his eyes, he would not hear the end of it.

"Since she asked if you had forgiven her. And the fact that you hadn't, and that she still thinks im a monster." Naruto said, half angry, half sad. Sasuke looked up, his normal stoic face in flace. Naruto looked into his eyes, trying to figure out what emotion the Uchiha was actually feeling.

"I… I'm… I'm going to tell you that she will change her mind with time" Sasuke said abruptly. Naruto smiled up at the him, before the Uchiha mumbled something about going back to the Uchiha compound and left.

Naruto knew, that that was Sasuke's way of trying to apologize about Sakura. He smiled to himself, then felt the same sadness over take him. He slowly shuffled back to his room.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter eleven**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

His night was plagued by nightmares. Naruto tossed, turned and thrashed about in his bed, unable to keep away the nightmare.

"_Monster!"_

"_Demon!"_

"_Freak!"_

Naruto could not end his own nightmares, no matter how hard he tried.

"_You freak!" a man screamed nearby, a half empty beer bottle clutched in his fist. The five year old Naruto curled up in on himself as the bottle the man was holding came smashing down beside him._

_Naruto screamed, tears falling down his face. It didn't matter to them, how hard he was beaten, how severe his wounds were. None of it did._

_His tears mingled with the blood that ran steadily down his cheeks and neck, from the cut that was just over the top of his right temple and over the span of his forehead. His knees and elbows grazed, with other scratched marring his tiny body._

_Naruto screamed again as the drunken man enclosed his giant hand on the blonde's arm, dragging him painfully across the dirt ridden ground. There, the man dragged him to what seemed to be the middle of a mob circle. Where each one began to kick, and punch and beat the blonde._

"_No! Help me!" Naruto screamed, wanting at least some form of help, but he knew that his plea's fell on deaf ears. The beatings continued, even when he lost unconsciousness…_

Naruto woke, a blood curdling scream escaping his lips. It took him a whole five minutes to realize it was only his sheets around him, not the villager's fingers on his neck…

Naruto gasped out, hiccups and sobs blending with his gasps. He raised a hand to his forehead, then using the same hand, scratched the back of his head. Sweat trailed down his face, and dripped off his chin. He had not had a dream like that for a while.

He wrapped his arms around himself, trying to hold his sanity inside of himself. This sudden overflow of emotion made Naruto feel queasy. He knew that his nightmare had in fact, been a dark memory from his childhood. Why the villagers chose to pick on a five year old was past him. Even if the said five year old had a sealed Bijuu inside of him.

Naruto knew that it was almost dawn, as streams of red gold began to streak across the walls and floor of his bedroom. Gingerly, Naruto reached out to finger the sheet that was currently tangled between his legs. It felt shaken, but he was gradually reigning in his moment of unbound emotions.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto was up and walking around the house when Sasuke came over. Even though the blonde had had a bad wake up that morning, he was back to his normal self. He smiled as the Uchiha sat down at the kitchen bench, and became curious when Sasuke dropped a few scrolls onto the bench.

"What're these?" Naruto asked picking on up.

"They are from Tsunade." Sasuke said, picking up another. "They're letters she was going to send to you, but obviously, she hadn't got them to you. You're free to read them, if you like." Sasuke dropped the scroll he was holding next to the others before standing.

"Now, I believe that I have to take you somewhere today." He said, voice bored.

"You do? Where?" Naruto asked, eyes beginning to brighten. Was he able to go see the old lady? Or were they leaving? Both possibilities sounded _wonderful_.

"Somewhere. No either put that cloak on or put on a _Henge_. Hurry up." Sasuke motioned towards the door, and began to walk towards it. Deciding on the latter, Naruto used his _Henge _and quickly followed the Uchiha out the door and towards the village.

The village was fairly quiet at this time of the morning. The sun had only just risen past the horizon, so no shops were open, and only few villagers were walking around. Again, Naruto was disguised as 'Jari Nara', so he got confused looks from the villagers. Although, to make himself look like a Nara, Naruto had tied the brown hair into a high ponytail, similar to Shikimaru's style.

After what felt like hours, due to Naruto's impatience since the actual time passed was only over a minute, Sasuke and Naruto stopped in front of an old looking building. Small vines were crawling up the walls, but they were angled just so, so that they looked artistic next to the stone.

"Here we are…" Sasuke said, before knocking on the door. This place was so familiar to Naruto that a sudden, and very unwanted, flashback broke through his mind, continuing on from his nightmare.

_Naruto was only partially aware of the pair of hands carefully lifting him._

_Was the beating over?_

_He felt himself being carried; did the villagers think he finally died? Was he going to be buried…?_

_Naruto wanted to scream for help, to do something to get this person away from him, but neither his arms nor his legs would respond. His limbs were currently useless. A small whine escaped the blonde's lips. He didn't want to die…_

"_Don't worry, Naruto-Kun…" The voice was soft, very different from what he was used too. "I am not going to hurt you. I am going to help."_

Sasuke dropped his arm, and light footsteps could be heard from inside the home. Naruto brought a hand to his head, fighting a headache, as the flashback continued.

_The only thing that worked was his eyes, even though he struggled with those._

_Naruto struggled to lift the heavy lids, and it took him a moment to actually open his eyes. It was so… dark._

_He couldn't see through all the darkness, but streams of moonlight began to scare away the darkness. Although he still couldn't see the features of his rescuer, he could make out where they were._

_It was an old looking building, with vines up the side._

The footsteps stopped, as the door began to open. Sasuke stood back, gently pushed Naruto forward as the owner of the home opened the door to greet his guests.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"_Naruto, don't be scared. I want to help. My name is Iruka."_

"I-Iruka…Iruka-sensei?" Naruto's voice was barely over a whisper, and could hardly be heard at all. Tears began to well up in his eyes, and a small hiccup escaped his lips. Iruka turned his head to the side gently.

"Do I know you?" He said after a moment of studying his guest. He saw Sasuke standing behind the other guest, but Iruka was mainly focussing on the brown haired man.

"Iruka-sensei!" The person cried, jumping onto Iruka. He fell back surprised, as the other person fell next to him, wrapping his arms around his neck and crying.

"Iruka-sensei…." A poof of smoke surrounded Naruto as he released his _Henge_, and Iruka suddenly saw yellow. A bright, sun coloured yellow that was painfully familiar to him.

"N…Naruto?" Iruka stammered, gently lifting Naruto off of him to look him in the eyes. Tears fell down Naruto's face as Iruka stood, pulled him up and brought him into a proper hug. Tears began to stream down Iruka's face too, as he cried five years' worth of tears all over again.

Sasuke gently stood back. Iruka looked up to the Uchiha, mouthed '_Thank you'_ before Sasuke nodded and walked off.

Iruka gently pried Naruto out of the hug, and pulled him into the lounge room. Naruto sniffled, whipped his nose on his sleeve and smiled up at his former sensei through his tears.

Iruka brought Naruto a warm cup of tea and sat across from him.

"Naruto…. How did you…. Where… when did you get back?" Iruka stammered, before finally getting a full question out.

"I got back yesterday. I'm staying outside of the village in this cabin." Naruto admitted, looking at the cup in his hands.

"I see. Where have you been all these years? You know I never… I never wanted you to go Naruto. Not everyone here thinks of you like that and-"

"But enough of them_ do_. And I do know that you never wanted me to leave. I understand you didn't exactly… like me in the beginning, but… now… I know." Naruto sighed, before smiling up at Iruka.

"I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, Naruto!" Iruka said, pulling Naruto into another hug. It wasn't very proper of him to be giving Naruto so many hugs, but five years of absence should be an excuse.

"Have you been keeping healthy? Hope you haven't been only eating ramen those five years." Iruka criticized, wagging a finger at Naruto. Naruto ginned impishly and Iruka sighed, rolling his eyes and smiling.

"How you've lived this long, I'll never know."

"But you're glad I have?"

"Of course…" Iruka smiled.

~ ҉ ~

The reunion was tearful and was full many interesting tales. Most of which were through Iruka and his telling's of the school and him teaching Konohamaru and other students. Konohamaru had graduated some years before, and Iruka had told Naruto much of Konohamaru's pranks and jokes.

Soon though, night began to fall and Naruto had to say his goodbyes. He promised to visit again, and left with a tearful goodbye too.

Somehow, he had managed not to talk much about himself, and Iruka never pushed him too. And for that, Naruto was extremely glad. He didn't want to have to explain a lot of the things going on with him. They were to frightening to the blonde to even say.

Shadows were cast all over village, masking it in darkness. Naruto took a breath of the night air and let it back out. Konoha was quiet tonight, unlike when he had been a young child. The thought sent a chill down Naruto's back, and he trudged forward. He had used his _Henge,_ before leaving, so he was covered. A few drunken villagers staggered past Naruto, yelling and slurring their words. Naruto had stiffened as they approached, and didn't relax until they were far gone.

Normally, he wouldn't have reacted like this, but that nightmare made him feel threatened.

Naruto took a few calming breaths before heading back to the Konoha gates. He rubbed his eyes once, then twice, trying to disarm the tiredness that had caught up with him. He scratched absentmindedly at the back of his head before his gaze was caught on something ahead.

Sitting on top of the Konoha's gate, sat a familiar figure. The blood red ANBU outfit with black bandages, and the red panther mask, the right eye of the mask still missing.

"You…" Naruto hissed, before breaking into sprint. If they were going to fight, it would be outside of the village. His opponent seemed to have the same idea, and jumped off the wall, leading to the outside of Konoha. As he ran, Naruto saw the two gate guards slouched over in their seats, the result of a Genjutsu.

As soon as his foot stepped outside of the Konoha walls, a torrent of water flew towards Naruto's foot. The water successfully hit Naruto's foot, trapping it to the earth. This cause Naruto to fall face first into the ground, since he had been running at full speed. The impact caused Naruto to accidently release his _Henge_, uncovering himself.

Another 'Mizu Kyapucha' Jutsu flew at Naruto, this time binding his right hand to the ground. Naruto cursed out loud, struggling against the water bonds. This is what the 'Mizu Kyapucha' was for. To hold down one's enemy for uses such as torture or for finding out information. Naruto hoped it was neither.

"Surely, you would not be that easy to get?" A lazy voice from Naruto's left was heard. Naruto turned his head, grazing his nose and skin on the gravel, to face the red clad opponent. Their eye was curved, giving off the impression of a smile.

"Fuck you!" Naruto bit back, once again struggling against the bonds.

"Now, now, Naruto. Watch your language…" His opponent responded, walking up to Naruto and perching himself next to him. He balanced himself on the balls of his feet, with his hands crossed over his chest, his head tilted to examine the blonde.

"My, how you've grown…" The person remarked, amusement lacing their tone. Naruto had just about had enough.

"_Damnit Fox, lend me your fucking power…"_ Naruto called into his mind, and felt the fox's laughter rumble through him. The fox complied, and Naruto was covered in a thin cloak of the demonic chakra, which effectively broke the water bonds. In a blind anger, Naruto jumped onto his opponent and began to barrage them with his fists.

This had taken the man by surprise, as each blow hit with full effect. The power of the fox was short lived as it slowly began to back away, letting Naruto's punches fly slower.

"_Oh great. Thanks a lot_." Naruto thought, feeling absolutely pissed off. Kyuubi only snickered in response. Naruto was thrown backwards by his opponent's retaliation, but not far enough. Naruto sprang forward again, snarling as he did.

Naruto used both feet to kick into the opponents chest, knocking the breath out of him. Then his hands grabbed the mask as he sailed past.

"You saw my face, now I'll see yours!" Naruto yelled angrily, landing on his feet, turning and throwing the mask to the side. His opponent slowly sat up, letting his hood fall loose. He stood, and turned to face Naruto, a large grin on his face.

Naruto, on the other hand, was dumbstruck.

"Oh my god… It's… It's _YOU!"_

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter twelve**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

"Yeah, it is me!" The silver haired Jounin said, holding up a hand and smiling, though you couldn't see his mouth through the dark, navy blue mask. "Chotto!"

"You… you bastard! You _attacked_ me!" Naruto roared, taking an angry step forward. Kakashi just kept smiling,

"Gomen… Gomen… Sensei is sorry…" Kakashi said, pure amusement in his words.

"Some sensei you are…" Naruto didn't know whether to be pissed off, or to be happy. So he settled with both.

Naruto jumped forward, punching Kakashi in the face before bringing him into a hug. Kakashi froze for a second before returning the hug.

"Naruto, you idiot." Kakashi said fondly, ruffling the blonde's hair as they separated. "You know you caused trouble for everyone, right?"

"I guess so…" Naruto said doubtfully. He scratched the back of his head. "Didn't seem like many people cared though. Naruto decided to take Kakashi back to the cabin with him, seeing as they both shouldn't be seen by any Konoha Nin whilst in their current state.

"Now, now Naruto… I thought I actually taught you something." Kakashi shook his head, lazily putting his hands in his pockets as they walked. "Just because you couldn't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't there…"

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke woke the next morning, feeling worried. He wasn't sure why, but a sudden dread settled inside the Uchiha. He sat up in bed, the covers falling and bunching around his waist. He rubbed his arms before a small black adder slithered onto his bed.

Sasuke looked at the adder with a pointed look. The small snake frowned at her master.

"Tsssunade-sssama wantsss to sssee you about a missssion…" The adder hissed slowly, her speech not perfect. Sasuke nodded and the snake poof-ed away. He groaned before dragging himself away from his now tempting bed, and changed into some proper clothes. He wore black pants and a deep navy shirt with the Uchiha symbol on the back. He strapped his Katana to his waist and set forward to the Hokage building.

Sasuke knocked once, then twice, when he got to the front door of the Hokage's office.

"You may enter…" Tsunade's voice sounded tired through the door, and Sasuke walked in. Tsunade had piles of paper and files still covering her desk, but there seemed to be a small amount less than the day before.

"You wanted to see me?" Sasuke said, standing still as Tsunade stood. Her arms were crossed behind her back and she stood in front of her desk.

"Yes. I have another mission for you. This mission will require you to-"

"Hokage-sama!" a gravelly voice interrupted Tsunade and she resisted the urge to slap the person. What was it with all the interruptions lately?

"Oh who is it this… oh. Waru. What can I do for you?" Tsunade asked, rubbing a hand over her face. She had yelled the first part of her sentence, and had to regain her composure. Although, she hadn't missed seeing the Uchiha stiffen.

"Yes. I am in need of a worthy Nin to do a B-ranked mission for me." Waru began, picking at his fingernails. He looked tired and worried, as his hair was untidy and he had an air of paranoia surrounding him. His eyes had dark circles under them, and his nails were broken and bleeding. What the hell had happened to the council member?

"Waru, can you please wait for a moment? I am currently having a private talk with-"

"No!" Waru screamed hysterically, throwing his arms out to his sides. "It must be done! I will not take no as an answer!" Waru said, rocking back and forth slightly on the spot. Two ANBU, who Sasuke and Tsunade both recognized as his personal guards, walked into the room and gently supported the rocking council member.

Waru's eyes shifted from left to right, as though searching for a threat. But when his eyes landed on Sasuke, they brightened then darkened again.

"You. Uchiha. You will do this mission for me." Waru said, pointy a bony finger at Sasuke. Sasuke turned his head to see Waru, his Sharigan bleeding into his eyes. That was the only warning Sasuke was going to give him, and to help the threat, and also clicked his katana a few centimetres out of its holder, showing the lethal silver blade.

"Waru… I just tried to say that I am talking with him. He cannot go on a mission for you." Tsunade said, annoyance in her tone. Waru cocked his head to the side and then turned to his ANBU.

"You two… find the nearest child and kill them." Waru said, before Tsunade screamed.

"No! What the hell are you thinking?" Tsunade raged, and Sasuke fully unsheathed his blade, and it was now pointing towards Waru. Although, the old council member did not looked fazed.

"They will do it, regardless of what you do. If the Uchiha doesn't take my mission and does not come back successful, the nearest child to these ANBU will die." Waru said, and the two ANBU took a step back towards the door.

"Fine… Fine… Sasuke… please, go on his mission." Tsunade said, and Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"What's the mission for?" Sasuke said, his Sharigan still showing and his Kanata still drawn. Waru smiled to himself, and turned back to his ANBU.

"You two. Cancel that order. Do not kill the child. You are dismissed." And the two ANBU left. Waru turned to Sasuke, triumph written all over his face.

"Now, this mission is an information retrieval. The reason it is B-ranked, is that you'll have to obtain it from the Kazekage." Waru said, poking his fingers together.

"Wait, you want me to steal something from the Kazekage? From _Gaara_?" Sasuke said, clenching his fingers around the handle of the Katana. Waru waved a finger at the Uchiha.

"My, my, what disrespect. I wouldn't call it stealing… just… permanent borrowing…" Waru said, and then walked over to the window.

"But we have an alliance with the Country of Wind! We can't just take things from them!" Tsunade exclaimed, throwing her hands up. Waru smiled at them.

"Use any means necessary. You have one week, and that includes travel time." Waru said, still smiling, and walked out of the office, a thoughtful expression on his face.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto sat on the couch eating a bowl of ramen as Kakashi rested on the arm chair opposite.

"Naruto, I really thought you were dead. But I finally found you! But of course, just trying to get you to wait until I could reveal myself caused some trouble." The silver haired Jounin said, resting his head back on the chair's arm.

"Well I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was you. I thought you were some psychotic killer…" Naruto said through a mouthful of ramen. He was currently on his fifth bowl for the day, and he still felt hungry.

"I suppose that's a fair enough reason. But I thought that my Sharigan might've given me away." Kakashi responded reaching into his back pocket to pull out his copy of '_Icha Icha Paradise'_ and opening to the page he was currently on.

"Well, let's just say I have run into enough people with the Sharigan to put my recognition off." Naruto muttered, looking at his now empty bowl.

"Oh? And who might they be?" Kakashi asked, eye focussing on the blonde (his Sharigan eye was currently closed as to save energy and chakra).

"Well, there's you and Sasuke, that's two…" Naruto shook his head. "And others. I'll leave it at that."

"Well, if you say so…" Kakashi said, putting his book flat on his chest. His eye was still focussed on the blonde.

"I do, and that's the end of it." Naruto huffed, staring at his bowl still. '_I really don't even want to start on that bloody file…_' he thought, glaring. He heard Kakashi sigh and then heard the turning of paper. Kakashi was back to reading.

About an hour later, a very pissed off Sasuke opened the door to the cabin.

"Naruto!" Sasuke growled, looking for the blonde. He saw Naruto sitting at the bench and walked over to him.

"I have to go on a mission, and you have _GOT_ to stay here. No visits to anyone. Seriously. You cannot leave here until I get back." Sasuke said, looking the blonde directly into the eyes. Cool blue eyes looked back into onyx, and Naruto frowned.

"Seriously? Just stay… here?" Naruto said doubtfully. The Uchiha nodded, and suddenly Kakashi spoke up.

"Don't worry; I'll keep an eye on him." He said without looking up from his book. Sasuke turned around, half startled, and looked over to the Jounin.

"Hn. Thought you'd be back here sooner or later." Sasuke shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. Kakashi looked at the Uchiha for a second, before he dragged his eye back to his book.

"Yeah, so you thought right. Don't you have a mission to do?" Kakashi asked, not really expecting to continue the conversation after he was given an answer.

"I do. I'll be back within a week. And seriously. No going anywhere." And with that less then cheerful thought, Sasuke left.

~ ҉ ~

It was three days into Sasuke's trip. He had run at full speed towards the Country of Wind, and he was just about near enough to the Hidden Village of Sand.

The sand whipped around, as though it knew Sasuke's intentions and tried to keep him out. Sasuke jumped from a large rock to the sand and onto another rock again, repeating the process when he could.

Tsunade had managed to find the half-insane Waru to actually get the mission folder from him, and then she had given to Sasuke.

He was required to obtain a black, Kazekage sealed scroll, which apparently held definite information that Waru required. Of course, the whole damn thing was suspicious. Seeing as he only technically had a day to grab it before his trip back.

And what the hell did Gaara have that Waru wanted? It didn't make any sense, at all.

Sasuke jumped onto a final rock, and stared up at the high city walls. He silently looked for an easy entrance, which wasn't easy since there were guards stationed along the walls every ten metres along the wall. Sasuke needed to find Garra now. Maybe he could just talk Garra into giving it to him… no… hat wouldn't work. So, Sasuke resorted to a basic method he hoped would fool the guards.

Sasuke used _Henge_, to transform into a sand shinobi, and walked slowly towards the city. A few guards watched in curiosity as he passed through, but they did nothing to stop him. Were the guards stupid?

Slowly, he made his way from the gate to the large circular building he hoped housed the red headed Kazekage. It took him all of five seconds to jump from the ground to one of the windows that had been left open.

He balanced on the ledge, careful to even out his weight. One slip and he'd fall either face-first onto the floor, or back first down a possible ten metres to the ground. Finally, he balanced himself and carefully stepped into the room.

It was quiet. Maybe it being midnight helped the fact, who knew. Sasuke quietly inched through the room, staying stealthy and quiet. The room he was in was not empty, but not exactly full either. A simple desk and chair sat in the middle of the room, with a bookcase behind it. Sasuke walked over to the bookcase, and quickly scanned it for anything he deemed useful.

Finding nothing, Sasuke proceeded out of the door and into a hallway. There were not so many doors as he thought, but after a minute of searching he found the Kazekage's room. It was kind of obvious with the symbol of the Country of Wind emblazed proudly on the door.

As silently as he came in with, Sasuke slowly entered the Kazekage's room. No lights were on, but Sasuke could see clearly with the moonlight drifting in through the windows. He walked over to the desk that sat in the middle of the far wall, and began to search for the item he needed.

He dragged open the draws, searched the top of the desk thoroughly but still couldn't find any black scroll with the Kazekage's seal on it. Discarding the desk, he quietly made his way over to a range of filing cabinets, ranging in colours and sizes. He opened a large blue cabinet first, skimming the file names in case he recognized one. Regardless of not recognizing any, he still opened the files in case the scroll was there.

"Sasuke… what a pleasant surprise. May I ask what you're trying to steal from me?" a somewhat quiet voice asked from in the darkness. Sasuke jumped, not expecting this. The room was clear of chakra signatures when he came in.

Sasuke turned, just as light flooded into the room. He regained his composure, looking over to the red head. Emotion could not escape the Kazekage's face, as he sat in a sand throne that was quaking from his gourd.

"Ah… hello Garra." Sasuke said, leaning against the filing cabinets. He spoke casually, but on the inside worry squirmed. He was trying to figure out how to escape, or even someone render the red-head unconscious.

"What do you need, that is so important, that it requires you to steal from me?" Gaara responded, leaning his head on one hand.

"Well, I need a black scroll, with your seal on it." Sasuke replied. He came up with jumping on the window, but Gaara's sand would probably just grab him before his fingers made it past the ledge.

"Ahh… _that_ scroll…" Gaara smirked, making his face look slightly evil. It was probably his eyes, which were still shrouded in black from insomnia.

"Tell me. What does this scroll contain? Apparently it's very informative of something."

Gaara smirked again, this time standing. The sand he was sitting on collapsed and began to float back into the gourd. Gaara walked over to a black filing cabinet, and pulled it open. His thin fingers skimmed over the files, before reaching inside one. He pulled out a relatively small scroll, which suddenly expanded when released from the cabinet. It grew so large, that it almost rivalled Gaara's gourd in size.

Sasuke watched, perplexed, as Gaara handed him the scroll.

"You're giving this to me, even though I was told to come and steal it from you…?" Sasuke said wearily, watching the red head carefully. Gaara only gave him a look that hid everything from his face. He had just as good of a stoic face then Sasuke could pull off.

"Yes, I am. Because you're going to need it." Gaara replied.

"And what, exactly will I need it for? What does this scroll contain?" Sasuke asked, and Gaara took a step back, walking to the other side of the desk.

"This scroll contains…"

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter thirteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

"This scroll contains… information that a lot of people would kill to get, Sasuke." Gaara said, fingers resting on the scroll before curling into his palm. He was reluctant to give away the important scroll, yet still felt it worthy to give to the Uchiha, but of course, that didn't mean that he couldn't annoy the Uchiha whilst doing so. As suspected, Sasuke gritted his teeth.

"I could guess that. But seriously, give me the information." Sasuke said through his teeth, glaring the famous Uchiha glare straight towards the red head. Apparently though, it had no effect. Gaara simply looked at Sasuke with a bored expression, and walked over to another filing cabinet.

"I just did." Gaara rolled his eyes towards the Uchiha, watching him as he opened a random folder inside the cabinet without even looking. He grabbed its contents then tossed it towards Sasuke, who caught it easily with his hand.

Sasuke looked down at his hand to see a pure white scroll with the Kazekage seal on it too. He raised one of his perfect eyebrows at Gaara. "What's this?"

"That, Sasuke, is for Naruto." Sasuke stiffened at Gaara's response, and narrowed his eyes.

"How the hell did you know about Naruto?" He said, not even bothering to deny it. There was no point arguing with Gaara, especially since the red head usually knew everything anyway.

"I have my ways, Uchiha, but that scroll is only for Naruto's eyes, you got that?" Gaara said, and although his face was calm, his tone of voice was anything but. Annoyance, unsureness and a hint of suspicion laced his words, and Sasuke simply glared back.

"Fine. I will not look at the _white_ scroll." Sasuke said, hinting that he was going to look in the black. Gaara nodded, before pointing to the door.

"You best leave. You can probably get away unseen if you leave now, rather than later." He said with a tone of dismissal. Sasuke nodded before walking through the door, into the room he entered in, and left the same way he came. Up and out the bloody window.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto was so bored. He and Kakashi had spent a week with almost no other company. And he had no one to play with but himself, since Kakashi didn't want to do anything but read or sleep. This of course, made him extremely bored.

Kakashi lay back on the couch, his perverted book lying open over his face, arms resting comfortably across his chest while he dozed. Naruto puffed his cheeks out, crossing his own arms across his chest and glared.

Kakashi made some kind of noise, before a snort escaped his nose and he fell back into a normal sleep. Naruto rolled his eyes and looked over towards the kitchen, suddenly feeling like a bowl of ramen.

One of the things Naruto hated most was that stupid three minute wait for the water to boil. How people lived through the wait was beyond him. They should make a ramen where it would automatically have hot water when you open the lid. Yeah, that would be awesome…

"Can't leave you alone for one week without you already going through the whole stock of ramen, can i?" A very annoying, very stoic, very… _Sasuke_ sounding voice broke the silence of the cabin. Of course, if it quaked like a duck, it probably _was_ a duck. So of course, it was Sasuke. Although, how ducks came into his head, Naruto would never figure out.

"Oh shut up Teme, I got hungry." Naruto replied, flipping him off as he poured the hot water into his ramen bowl. Sasuke walked past him and opened the fridge, to find all the vegetables and fruits to still be there. He frowned.

"Yet, you didn't touch a trace of anything healthy. No vegetables or anything."

"Hey, ramen has vegetables in it!" Naruto argued, pointy to the floating chunks of carrot and celery in his ramen bowl. Sasuke snorted.

"Yes, like that will save your life from the awful noodle crap." Sasuke shook his head. "And thanks for that nice welcome back I got, Dobe."

"When you deserve it, let me know." Naruto huffed back, shoving a large amount of the 'noodle crap' into his mouth.

"You should be thankful, you know. In the mission I had to do… I received an extra item that was to be given to you." Sasuke said, crossing his arms and leaning back against the bench. Naruto smiled, giddy at the thought of getting a letter, or present.

"Well, where is the damn thing?" Naruto asked, shovelling some more ramen into his mouth and looking expectantly towards Sasuke. Sasuke reached into his pocket and threw the untouched, white Kazekage sealed scroll towards Naruto. Of course, Naruto wasn't exactly the type of person to spread his attention to two things at once, and had to try not to choke on his ramen while he scrambled to catch the scroll that had been thrown at him.

"What is it? Is it… wait, this is from _Gaara_!" Naruto shouted, happiness rising in each word he said. He wanted to rip into it right away, but Sasuke put a hand up to stop him.

"My instructions were not to read its contents, so it's best for you to open it while I'm not here." The Uchiha said, resuming his '_crossed-arms-leaning-back-so-i-looks-awesome'_ pose, or so Naruto called it.

"But still, _Gaara_… as in, _Gaara_ the freakin' _Kazekage_ gave this to me!"

"He is your friend, Dobe. You of all people should know that."

"I know but… I didn't think he'd actually give this too me… what with it being…." Naruto looked hesitantly over to Sasuke before moving his gaze elsewhere. "With it being... something that I can't talk to you about…"

Sasuke snorted, obviously annoyed with the lack of information. He stretched his arms over his head and looked over to Kakashi before his gaze shifted back to Naruto, who was now wolfing down his ramen again.

"So, did you go anywhere? Have anyone over?" Sasuke asked, voice normal and controlled. But Naruto could tell he was suspicious.

"Well, I didn't go anywhere. Kakashi did, went to see Iruka or something. I dunno. And I think Iruka visited… three times. Might have been four. And don't give me that look, you never aid that he couldn't come over!" Naruto glared at Sasuke when the Uchiha had given Naruto a very pissed off look.

"Fine then. I've got to go report back to Tsunade to hand in the mission." Sasuke said, and using that sentence as a goodbye, he left. Naruto leant back against the kitchen bench, as he pondered.

Konoha, Sasuke, Villagers, Sakura… everything was going to get that much more complicated.

He stared down at the scroll in his hands, before using his fingers to gently pick the candle-wax seal off of the scroll to unravel it.

He opened it to about his arm span, and began to read. Yeah, it was definitely the information he wanted. He would finally get some answers…

Kakashi woke with a random snort, the book falling off his face as he looked around blearily.

"Did I just miss something important?"

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke lied, obviously. He had already reported to Tsunade, but since Waru was reportedly 'ill' he wasn't there to collect the scroll. So Sasuke was given permission to have the scroll in his possession.

That damn, bloody scroll. The thought of it made the Uchiha's blood boil. That stupid council should not even attempt to get their grimy, wrinkly hands on it. And yes, Sasuke was using a lot of adjectives, but he was getting pissed off.

If they even tried to get it back, Sasuke would take the liberty of killing them all, regardless of the consequences.

They had no right to have information of the Jinchuuriki's.

Yes, the black scroll, that was as large as Gaara's gourd, contained information about all nine of the Bijuu, and the remaining Jinchuuriki. Remaining, as some of them were deceased. It held very real, very personal information regarding each jinchuuriki, each going into so much detail, that it outlined almost all the important and unimportant events that happened within that Jinchuuriki's lifespan.

So when Sasuke had gotten to the point of reading about the nine tailed Bijuu, he felt like throwing up. Detailed writings were written about Naruto, things that shouldn't have been made known. There was so much pain, sadness and horror within those stupid words.

He had no idea how painful Naruto's life was. Of course, seeing your clan getting slaughtered over and over had its bad sides, but to read about Naruto getting beaten almost every day, to read about the Kyuubi's attack on Konoha, or to read about the damned sealing, set the Uchiha on edge. He wanted to go back to Naruto and shove the scroll in his face. Surely, he had no right to hold such a scroll.

But, Gaara said he, Sasuke Uchiha, would need it. He didn't know what for, or why, only that he did. Whether it was because it had the last see locations, or where their home villages were, he wasn't sure. Or maybe, because the '_Chi no Noroi'_ was mentioned constantly over Naruto's section.

What the hell was the 'Curse of Blood' anyway? And what the hell did it have to do with Naruto? He needed to find out what was in that file, Naruto willing to let him read it or not.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto was laying in his bed, listening to the sounds of the quiet house. It was dark, cold, and he couldn't sleep. The information in the scroll was definitely what he needed, but didn't go quiet into the depth that he would've liked.

He needed to know these things now, before it was too late. Of course, Naruto never wanted to be here, but he had too.

He didn't want to tell Sasuke about anything, but he was going to have to sooner or later.

He could not hide anything from those who were willing to help. Kakashi, Iruka, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Sasuke. They were all here for him. Yet, he never wanted them involved in the first place. He was meant to do this alone.

He didn't know if he could, but he was willing to try.

They would not die for him. They couldn't. He would not let them. Even if that meant death for him to stop what was going to come.

Naruto knew that this 'Chi no Noroi' was evil and heatless. Anything that got in its way would die. This is what he had been told. By none other than… Uchiha Itachi.

Naruto swore loud and strong. All these fucking secrets wouldn't leave him alone. He scratched his stomach and rolled over, trying to clear his head. No, he would not think about it anymore.

But of course, his eyes were glued to the white scroll sitting next to the manila folder on his bedside table. He connected the dots with those as soon as he could read them. And as far as he knew, everyone in the village was in a lot of trouble.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

"Sasuke… I'm bored….." Naruto whined the next day. Sasuke stood in the cabin kitchen, cutting vegetables for a snack, while Naruto sat on the couch, legs stretched out and his head hanging over the back of the couch. His hair fell off his face, and his eyes seemed to look much bigger when his face was upside down.

"Well, go do something then." Sasuke replied, raising an eyebrow as he sliced a tomato in half. Naruto scrunched up his nose.

"I would, but there's nothing to do…" Naruto whined again, blinking once. He moved his arms up, so they hung back off the edge of the couch, with his upper arms braced against the back of the couch. Sasuke sighed.

"I don't know what you would want to do. I mean, if I was in your situation, I would probably read or train. But since this is you, and your brain cannot manage reading, and you cannot leave this cabin without my say so, there's really nothing you can do anyway." Sasuke replied.

Naruto sat up and swivelled around, so his knees were against the back of the couch, his feet hanging off the front and his arms on the back. He blew his cheeks out and huffed, "Oh shut up, Teme! I do so have a brain!"

"No, no you don't. You haven't thought of even making a Kage Bunshin to use." Sasuke raised an eyebrow when Naruto snorted.

"I have, but it's no fun when I have to play with myself." Naruto's eyes widened when he saw the Uchiha's eyebrows rise. "A _CLONE_ of myself… a clone. Damnit that came out wrong…" Naruto dropped his head against the back of the couch. "It's no fun when I have to play with a clone… a _CLONE_…" Naruto shook his head and raised it again, with a red blotch forming on his forehead.

"See, no brain. If you had one, you wouldn't have come up with… that." Sasuke rolled his eyes and began to eat a half of a tomato. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"That was an accident. But you knew what I meant." Naruto said, glaring.

"Sure I did, dobe. Anyway, if you really want to do something, I guess there's no harm in sparring." Sasuke said, grabbing the other half of the tomato and eating that too.

"Really? We can?" Naruto said happily, practically wiggling in excitement. He went to jump of the couch, but his foot got caught on the arm which led him to face-planting on the floor. Naruto sat up, rubbing his nose, while Sasuke simply raised an eyebrow.

"Owwie…." Naruto muttered, before jumping up and running to the door. "Well, can we go?" He said impatiently, staring at Sasuke.

"Unless you want to reveal to everyone that you're here, I suggest you either use a henge or put your cloak and mask on." Sasuke said, chewing on a carrot as he slowly made his way to the door.

"And by god, if I didn't know any better, I'd have thought you were a dog. You're impatient at the door, like a dog waiting for a walk, and I could practically see you with a wagging tail." Sasuke shook his head as Naruto ran to grab his cloak.

"Oh shut up. Kyuubi's rubbing off on me." Naruto called from the bedroom, grabbing his cloak and tying it on.

'_Like hell I am_,' Kyuubi muttered. Naruto snorted.

"Sure, now you speak. Where the hell have you been all this time?" Naruto hissed pulling on the mask. He brought it up over his nose and the whisker marks on his cheeks.

'_Sleeping. I'm still tired. Healing you took more chakra than usual._' The fox muttered. Naruto sighed and walked back to Sasuke, pulling the hood over his head.

"Ok Teme, let's go."

"… Are you ever going to stop calling me that?"

"…No."

~ ҉ ~

"You ready?" Naruto asked. Sasuke and Naruto stood face to face, almost one hundred metres separating them. Sasuke stood calmly, one hand on his Katanas' handle, the other resting comfortably by his side. Naruto had his arms crossed over his chest, while he braced himself.

"Sure. But there should be some restrictions." Sasuke replied, waving his free hand.

"Like…?"

"… well, an idiot could pick up your chakra signature a mile away. So we should stick to Taijutsu, and whatever weapons we have. Nothing more, nothing less." Sasuke replied, clicking his Katana out an inch. Naruto nodded, bringing a kunai out from under his cloak.

"Go." Naruto yelled, sprinting forward. Sasuke drew his katana out as Naruto got closer, then swiftly jumped up and down, bringing his katana down hard. Naruto looked up and jumped as the silver blade of the katana swooped down, just missing the blonde. Naruto swung his arm out, sending the kunai flying towards Sasuke.

Sasuke bent over backwards, the kunai brushing over his shirt and then flying into a tree. Sasuke grabbed the katana, and swiftly pulled it out of the earth (it was imbedded three inches into the ground from the strike), and swung it around, cutting through the air with a whizzing sound.

Naruto brought up another kunai, blocking the strike of the katana. The sound of metal colliding with metal rung out throughout the field. Naruto and Sasuke locked gazes for a second, before Naruto swung his leg out, narrowly missing Sasuke's chin as the Uchiha bent out of reach.

Sasuke swung his katana back and out, before bringing it towards the blonde again. Naruto jumped back, before crouching on all fours. Sasuke stood in a fighting stance, with his katana drawn in front of him. He ran forward the same time the blonde pounced.

Naruto let out a quick snarl, leap frogging the Uchiha and skidding along the earth, turning and sprinting towards the Uchiha's back.

The whole move was unexpected, so when Naruto kicked Sasuke's back, he flew forward. Sasuke grunted, swung his blade out and stuck the earth, slowing himself down, before rotating. He pushed off the earth with his feet, pulling the blade out from the ground and running towards Naruto.

Naruto shot out a kunai and several shuriken, each getting blocked by the Uchiha. Sasuke swung his blade, slicing the air as Naruto bent over backwards. He planned on using his hands to brace his fall, but they fell out from under him, causing him to thunk his head on the ground.

"Ah, crap!" Naruto whined, clutching his head. "Stop, stop!"

"That's it?" Sasuke asked, standing next to the blonde and watched as his friend rolled on the ground.

"Yes! That fucking hurt!" Naruto hissed, glaring at his friend. Sasuke snorted, sat himself on the ground and put his katana and its sheath beside him. Naruto sat up, rubbing the now obvious lump on his head.

"You're being such a baby…" Sasuke told him, leaning back on his arms. The sun was warm as it made its way across the sky, and little clouds floated in the sky.

"Oh shut up, Teme." Naruto huffed, stretching his arms. 'I should grab my kunai and shuriken…' Naruto though before shrugging. Maybe later.

"So… what's new?" Naruto asked, and Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Not much. Haven't got a mission today, so it's going to be a boring day."

"Huh. Can't be boring with me around though!" Naruto announced and Sasuke rolled his eyes. " Hey, what happened to that snake?"

"What snake?" Sasuke asked, raising an eyebrow to the blonde.

"That giant three fanged snake that you sent after me and it stabbed me through the chest with its middle fang."

"Oh. That snake."

"Yes, that snake."

"Hm… I've still got him. He's blind now, though." Sasuke shook his head. Naruto looked at the ground before lying on his back with his hands behind his head.

"huh. Well, sorry about that.

"Dobe…" Sasuke muttered which got a glare from the blonde. They both sat in a comfortable silence for about an hour, before Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"Hey, tell me something." Sasuke asked, and Naruto turned his head to the raven, his eyes half closed. Enjoying the sun, Naruto was tempted to fall asleep.

"What is the 'Chi no Noroi'?" as soon as the words left his lips, Naruto stiffened.

"Why do you want to know?" Naruto asked, tense all over.

"Because, it's obviously got you on edge and I know you're hiding something from me. Tell me." Sasuke asked, and Naruto knew it wasn't a request. It was a _demand_.

"I… I don't know much about it." Naruto admitted, staring up at the clouds. He was momentarily distracted by a cloud that looked like a fox, before he drew his attention back to the conversation.

"As its name mentions, it has something to do with blood. I'm not sure if it means blood literally, or blood as in family blood. Like clans and such." Naruto said, bringing one hand out to scratch his stomach.

"And a wolf. Just one. The whole paragraph that mentions it says, '_By its birth, its coat soaked by blood, brings forth the curse, but with its death will bring the immortal curse to a mortal state, allowing the curse to fall into deaths embrace._' I'm not really sure what that means though. There are plenty of wolves in the world. So it could be any, right?" Naruto sighed. "That's about all I know. Everything else just mentions blood, and lots of it.

Sasuke glared towards the sky, before a rustle brings both their attentions to the forest edge. Naruto quickly straightened his cloak and mask, just as a blue eyed brown eyes person walked up to them.

"Yo! Sasuke, Naruto, what's up?" The person announced, grinning. Sasuke immediately jumped up, kicked the person hard in the chest so they fell back and stepped on their chest. He brought his sword up to their throat, gently pressing into it.

"Who are you?" Sasuke hissed. The person slapped a hand to their forehead.

"Right. I'm in a _Henge_…" the person muttered before becoming surrounded in smoke. Their silver haired sensei smiled up to the Uchiha.

"God damnit, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto growled as Sasuke eased up and helped Kakashi to his feet. Kakashi waved a hand in dismissal, smiling simply towards the blonde.

"Well, sorry to interrupt your fight, but I believe it is time for lunch." The Jounin smiled, than motioned for the two others to follow him.

"Where are we going?" Naruto asked, standing up and stretching.

"Ichiraku ramen." Kakashi replied, bringing his book out and opening up where he last read it.

Naruto smiled, pushing back the hood and pulling down the mask. Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow.

"It might be a bit suspicious if I walk in all covered up, right?" Naruto asked before using _Henge_. He turned himself back to 'Jari' again, and followed the others. Sasuke snorted and slid his katana into his sheath and re-attached it to his hip as they walked.

~ ҉ ~

"Slow down. If you keep going like that you'll choke." 'Masaki' scolded, pointing his chopsticks towards the blonde…er, brunette. 'Masaki' was the name Kakashi had chosen for a cover.

"Ahh, you know I won't." 'Jari' replied, grinning. Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to poke his un-eaten miso ramen.

"Why did you even buy me some? I hate this crap." Sasuke asked, picking up a noodle then dropping it back into its bowl. 'Jari' looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You should know better than to call it crap in my presence." He said, looking over to Sasuke's bowl. "… Are you going to eat that?"

"It doesn't matter what I call it, it's still crap." Sasuke replied dryly, than pushed the bowl along the bench to 'Jari', who caught it swiftly.

"Hey, old man! Get me another teriyaki chicken ramen, but with extra chicken… and add some wasabi too. Oh! And thyme... and basil. And extra chicken! I think I said that… add pork too!" 'Jari' asked, grinning like a fool and shovelling the miso ramen into his already half-filled mouth.

"That's a huge appetite you got there. Reminds me of my favourite customer… His name was Naruto. He had so much good in him, even if not many people could see that… sorry for rambling, I'll go get your order." Teuchi smiled towards 'Jari', before shuffling off to make the order. 'Jari' dropped his chopsticks and stared into the bowl.

"You ok?" 'Masaki' asked, putting a hand on his shoulder, bringing him back.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine." 'Jari' replied. Both Sasuke and the Jounin looked at Naruto, worry in both their faces, but 'Jari' grinned back at them.

"Really, I'm fine." But they both knew the grin was fake.

~ ҉ ~

"Wow, going back to the place brings back some awesome memories…" Naruto said, when they returned to the cabin. Naruto patted his bloated belly with a smile, and Sasuke scowled at him.

"You really are a glutton, you know that?" He said dryly, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. Naruto shrugged, uncaring.

"Ok kids, I'm going to go visit a friend. Don't fight; don't burn down the house, yada yada…" Kakashi said to them, a grin hidden beneath his mask. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"We're not kids anymore!" Naruto huffed, blowing out his cheeks.

"Again? You've been coming and going a lot lately. Who are you going to see?" Sasuke asked. Naruto deflated his cheeks and looked over to the Jounin.

"Hmm… the Hokage, if you must know." Kakashi replied, using a _Henge_ and walking to the door.

"Alright, we'll I'll be off now. Have fun and please don't kill each other." Kakashi said, and ducked behind the door before an orange pillow could hit him in the face. Naruto and Sasuke looked at the door before looking at each other again. Naruto frowned.

"Sasuke, go grab my pillow for me."

"Why? You're the one who threw it."

"So? You're closest."

"You're a child."

"No, I'm not! I'm twenty one, thank you very much!"

"With the mind and attention span of a three year old." Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes.

"Teme!"

"Dobe…"

"Argh! You should try removing the stick from your butt, you might be nicer." Naruto glared at the Uchiha before getting up and picking up the pillow. But just as Naruto's fingers brushed the fabric of the pillow, a loud knock broke the silence and the door swung open.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter fifteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

"Duck and cover!" Naruto yelped, forgetting about the pillow and scrambling for the bedroom. The front door slammed against the wall, just as Naruto got the bedroom door closed. Sasuke gently massaged his temples with his thumb and middle finger, as a pink covered head popped through the door way.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said in a singsong voice, taking a step through the door and folding her arms behind her back. "Ha! So this is where you were hiding!" Sasuke sighed, and looked over to the girl.

"What do you want, Sakura?" Sasuke asked in his monotonous voice. Sakura frowned at him.

"To see you, of course. You've been gone for a week, and you didn't even bother to come and say you were back."

"And I would do that because?"

"Oh, don't be like that!" Sakura said a little too cheerfully. Sasuke snorted. "So how was the mission? Was it fun?" Sakura said, evidently making herself at home as she sat on the couch Naruto had just been occupying.

"The mission was anything but. You know that I don't do anything that you would think of as 'fun'. It was a simple retrieval mission." Sasuke replied, glaring at Sakura. Sakura looked thoughtfully around.

"Huh. I never thought you would've liked orange so much. I mean, this is an Uchiha property, right?" Sakura asked. Sasuke sighed, feeling his annoyance levels rising.

"No, I still don't like orange, and this isn't an Uchiha property." Sakura looked over to him, surprise on her features.

"Really? Then why are you here?" Sasuke looked out the window at Sakura's question.

"Because I can be. Now either tell me what you really want, or get out." Sasuke said to calmly, but he knew Sakura could feel his annoyance.

"Fine." She snapped. "You've been avoiding me. And then you're being secretive about everything." Sasuke snorted.

"Of course I've been avoiding you. You get on my nerves. And everyone has secrets. I just don't like giving hints like everyone else."

"Who is he?" Sakura asked abruptly.

"What?"

"Who is he? Jari? Because I've never heard of a Nara whose name means gravel?" Sakura watched Sasuke's face to see if anything would slip his normal composure. But of course, his normal stoic face didn't crack.

"Jari is a Shikamaru's cousin. That's all there is to it. What else do you have to know? His birth records and grades from pre-school?"

"Well, that would be a bit more convincing to prove he's real. I think he's just a _Henge_ though. So who is he _really_?" she asked, getting to the point.

"I believe that it's really none of your business. I never really suspected you as a person who would willingly snoop so low to get information about someone. Or to even suggest they're a Henge. Jari is about as real as you are. And you, Sakura, could be the poster child for a 'fake person' campaign. You change your allegiance at the drop of a hat. Sakura, I suggest you get out. Now." Sasuke said, glaring at said girl. Sakura was taken back for a second before she glared towards the glaring Uchiha.

"You're still angry about last week, aren't you? Just because I can't forgive _him_ for destroying the village twenty one years ago."

"That was Kyuubi, not him." Sasuke seethed.

"And what's the difference? He's still got Kyuubi inside of him. That doesn't change the fact that he's a _bakamono_.

"That's it! GET OUT!" Sasuke yelled at her, activating his Sharigan and reaching for his katana that was sitting idly next to his chair. Sakura shrank back before running for the door. Sasuke felt fear radiating off of Sakura, and then a gigantic wave of sorrow from the locked bedroom door.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto sat on his bed, body ridged and tense. She really does hate him, doesn't she? Tears fell freely down his cheeks, and down onto his hands that were sitting in his lap. This is what most of the villagers feel about him. A monster, a freak… Even if they have separate souls, Naruto and Kyuubi still share the same body…

Naruto lay back on his bed, fresh tears welling up in his eyes. His heart was in a fight with itself.

One half wanted the villagers to die. They caused him so much pain through his life. He could have his revenge if he wanted to. He was strong enough, right? Even if he didn't do it by his own hands… he could let whatever this 'Chi no Noroi' was to destroy the village. It was coming anyway, wasn't it?

The other half though, wanted to still save the village. Whatever happened, Konoha was still his home. The villagers, lest did they know, were his family. The whole village was. And if he was going to follow his dream, he couldn't really be Hokage without a village or people to protect.

Naruto hears Sasuke pounding his fist on the door. Naruto simply turned over, with his back facing the door. He curled up, slipping his hands under his head.

Does pain, ever really end?

~ ҉ ~

"Naruto. Open the door." Sasuke called through the wooden door. He couldn't hear a response. Only a few sobs and hiccups. Sasuke looked out the window, then back to the door.

"Ignore her. She doesn't know what she's talking about." Sasuke muttered, putting his hand on the door and curling his fingers to make a fist. "You… you just… ugh, ignore her. When you're Hokage you can do whatever you want. Tie her to a pole upside down for yelling at you, or whatever. I don't know." Sasuke's lame humour seemed to have gotten to Naruto, as a small laugh could be heard through the door.

"That's true." Naruto replied, sitting up. He swiped his hands over his eyes, getting rid of any remaining tears. He took a deep breath in, then out, allowing his senses to calm. He shouldn't get worked up over something like this. He was used to it… it should pass… but hearing it from her… from the one who he used to love… that hurt.

"Naruto, when you're ready, you can come out. Otherwise, I will be heading off." Sasuke called through the door. His rage was slowly fading, and the pink headed person was the obvious cause.

"Alright…" Naruto called back, rubbing at his red rimmed eyes and blotchy cheeks. He heard the door open and close faintly, and then fell back against his bed, blowing out his cheeks then letting them deflate again. He flopped his arm over his forehead, feeling a brilliant warmth. It was warmer then his normal temperature, and he hoped it wasn't from an upcoming fever of some sort.

Naruto curled up on his bed, bringing his knees up close to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs. The pain would pass… it will pass…

"_Stop lying to yourself, brat. It'll hurt more that way_." Kyuubi said slowly, making each word clear. Naruto huffed, curling himself in closer.

"Lying? Who said I was lying?"

"_Again with the lies… Really brat, do you think it will honestly pass? When you feel pain, no matter how good you end up feeling, it will always follow and haunt you."_ Kyuubi announced, although it didn't quite have the effect he had hoped for.

"Gee, that's so comforting…" Naruto hissed, and felt the prick of new tears in his eyes. "Leave me alone, you're not helping at all."

"_It's not exactly possible for me to leave, but none the less, I won't. What im trying to say, brat, is that if the pain follows you, you have to beat it back… you know? You have to keep feeling happy, no matter what. And you have all your friends to help you with that… and as weird as they may be, they will… somehow… help you keep happy."_ Kyuubi said to the blonde, and said blonde was listening.

"_That Uchiha boy for example. He is loyal, and stay by your side. He has in the past, and probably always will. You two said it yourself. You more like brothers then friends. And that Hyuuga girl. An idiot… well, anyone smarter then you… could see that she's head over heels for you_."

"… What's 'head over heels' mean?" Naruto asked dumbly. Kyuubi face palmed (face-_pawed_?).

"_Never mind…_" Kyuubi muttered. "_Anyway, all your friends have stuck by you in the past, and I don't think any of their feelings towards you has changed… except that pink one, but she doesn't really count._" Naruto snorted, and suddenly his eye lids felt really heavy.

"Kyuubi… as much as your little speech has confused me… I suppose it helped…" Naruto yawned, and a few tears slid down his whiskered cheeks as his eyes closed.

"_Naruto…"_ Kyuubi said, and Naruto couldn't remember the last time the demon had called him by his first name. "Y_ou should rest. Today was obviously… too much. But, before you sleep… I have something else, and it's extremely important._

Naruto sighed, rubbed his eyes and opened them, fighting off the sleep that had previously tried to win. "What?"

"_It's about_…"

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke sat in his room in the Uchiha mansion. The house was silent, dare not breathing or groaning, as the Uchiha inside of it worked. The large black scroll was unfolded in-front of him, open at Naruto's information.

_Name__: Naruto Uzumaki._

_Sex__: Male._

_D.O.B__: October tenth, 1990. _

_D.O.D__: Currently Living._

_Mental state__: Sane._

_Demon Mental state__: Sane._

_Information regarding the individual's birth and parents__: Naruto Uzumaki was born the day of the Nine-Tails rampage in Konoha. Naruto Uzumaki, who was born to Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, was used to seal the Nine-Tails demon, Kyuubi no Kitsune, as a way of containing the demon, thus ending its rampage._

_It has been revealed that Madara Uchiha was the cause of the Nine-Tails attack, as he heartlessly threatened the previous Jinchuuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, just after giving birth to Naruto Uzumaki._

_During birth, the seal holding the Nine-Tails had weakened to the point that Madara Uchiha was able to apprehend the Nine-Tails demon. Minato Namikaze gave up his life sealing the Nine-Tails within his new born son, thus saving Konoha._

_Information regarding the Individual's childhood__: Naruto Uzumaki lived his childhood alone. He had no close blood relatives to live with, and had thus lived alone in a home by himself. Naruto Uzumaki was seen as a demon by the elder villagers, who told their own children to not be in contact with Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto Uzumaki had not had much contact with anyone his own age until entrance to the Academy. Naruto Uzumaki has suffered numerous beatings from mostly older villagers within the village walls. Naruto Uzumaki has broken numeral bones and has ruptured numeral organs because of said beatings._

_Information regarding the Individual's team__: Naruto Uzumaki was placed in Team 7 after graduating from the Academy. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno were also a part of this team. Kakashi Hatake was their Sensei, and still is to this day. Team 7 is currently on going, with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno as the participating members. Naruto Uzumaki is no longer considered part of Team 7 due to being removed from the village and becoming a Missing Nin. Naruto Uzumaki has completed numerous missions through his Genin career, with any or all of these missions were completed with his team. Naruto Uzumaki has not been promoted to Chuunin due to not passing the Chuunin exams he has attended. Naruto Uzumaki has a friendly status with other graduating teams, but most being neutral or below. Teams including Shikamaru Nara, Neji Hyuuga and Hinata Hyuuga are the only teams of the same graduating level of Naruto Uzumaki who are on friendly terms with him. Another team with the third Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, within it, is also on Friendly terms with Naruto Uzumaki._

_The relationship between the individual and his Bijuu__: the relationship between Naruto Uzumaki and Kyuubi no Kitsune is currently unknown. Contact between Naruto Uzumaki and Kyuubi no Kitsune is believed to have occurred during Naruto Uzumaki's sixteenth birthday or soon after. Just after being removed from the village, a large amount of demonic chakra, later to be identified as Kyuubi no Kitsune's, was felt and seen around and inside of Konoha walls. There is believed to be a formal relationship between Naruto Uzumaki and Kyuubi no Kitsune, not quite up to Father-Son standards, but not just as acquaintances. Though nothing more or less seems to be going on between the two._

_Interests of the Individual__: Naruto Uzumaki seems to have many interests. Ramen being on the top of the list. Naruto Uzumaki has been known to have interests in plants, training, ramen and has also shown signs of having a love interest in his former teammate Sakura Haruno._

Sasuke sighed, and began to roll up the scroll, and rolling it underneath his bed. He folded his hands beneath his head as he glared towards the ceiling. The scroll was still as confusing as anything. He knew from a sneaking glance that the 'Chi no Noroi' was mentioned for a sentence within Naruto's section of the folder. Something along the lines of, 'The Uzumaki Clan was attacked by the 'Chi no Noroi', during the same time period'. And that's it. That was the only mention of the 'Chi no Noroi'.

Sasuke sighed, continuing to glare at the ceiling. This thing was getting stranger by the second. How can a curse attack someone? Or a clan, for that matter. And the 'same time period'? the 'same time period' was… when the clans had first branched off…

He rolled over onto his stomach, his hands reaching under his pillows as his face was firmly set into the fluffiness of the pillow. He groaned, his brain overloaded with information. The Uchiha blinked his eyes, which left a strange sensation from his eyelashes brushing the material of the pillow. He settled for closing his eyes, as his mind wondered from Jinchuuriki's, to the 'Chi no Noroi', and then… somehow… to the beginning of the clans.

~ ҉ ~

Written by Urufu-chan

(Ochibi and Urufu)


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter sixteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appears**

~ ҉ ~

The wind howled, punishing the trees and forcing the dust and dirt off the earth. The said wind kept a certain blonde awake through the night. Naruto frowned, turning in his bed once again. He had not slept a wink since the confrontation between Sasuke and Sakura, and that had been at least three days before hand.

Naruto watched as small dark shapes danced across the ceiling, before running as a stream of moonlight broke through the clouds and painted his room in silver. Although the blonde didn't feel tired, he knew his body was desperate for sleep. The wind continued its rampage, never keeping silent. Was it quieter in the village, then it was out in this damn cabin?

Naruto sat up, rubbed his hand over his face and sighed. If he couldn't sleep, he may as well use these hours for something useful.

"_It's about this '_Chi no Noroi'_. I believe that the Konoha has deep ties regarding it. The blood it talks about is the blood that runs through your vein, and your legacy. You and your friends are more connected then you think, brat." Kyuubi said to Naruto, voice serious._

_Naruto scratched his head._

"_We're connected? Of course we are, I mean, we're all from Konoha so…"_

"_No, you idiot. You're connected. The Hyuugas, Uchihas, Naras, Akimichis, Yamanakas, Inuzukas, Aburames, and your clan, the Uzumakis… even Tenten and Rock Lee's families. You have all been connect through his '_Chi no Noroi'_." Naruto scratched his chin thoughtfully._

"_But how? The clans have... um… bred… together since they branched off, so how can they be connected like that? Especially the Uchiha's, they don't get with anyone but their own clan…" Naruto stopped when Kyuubi let out a snarl._

"_Just try to listen to me. I never said that the clans bred together… I said they were _connected_! If you can't decipher that then you're an even bigger idiot then before. All I'm going to say now, is that you had best make sure all of your little friends, are on your side. The 'Chi no Noroi' is not to be under estimated." Kyuubi said, leaving Naruto to his thoughts._

Naruto's conversation with Kyuubi had ended on a sour note. Kyuubi had been annoyed with the blonde, due to his '_lac of common education and knowledge._' Naruto huffed, kicked his sheets off his legs and hopping off his bed. He walked to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water.

The wind blew open a window and the cold air slammed into Naruto. He shivered, crossing his arms over his chest. That's what he gets for wearing only his pyjama pants to bed…

Naruto closed the window and put the glass upside down in the sink. Kakashi was asleep on the couch, only his hair showing out of the blanket. Naruto huffed again before going back to bed.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke watched as the _Henge_'d blonde ran towards him.

"What's so important, Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he came to a halt in front of the Uchiha. Sasuke snorted.

"Just follow me." Sasuke said, face stoic as he led Naruto further into the village. Naruto followed, looking in different directions, studying the village. It wasn't much different, he had to admit. A large, familiar building came into Naruto's focus. The Hokage building?

"Why are you bringing me here?" Naruto asked, voice low. Not in anger, but confusion and uncertainty.

"Humph. Stop asking questions and follow." Sasuke muttered, opening the door and walking inside. Naruto was a little hesitant to follow, but followed none the less.

"You know the council is generally here too, right?" Naruto said, pushing his forefingers together. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, before continuing forwards.

"I specifically chose today for you to come, since the council is out at the moment."

"…Oh." Naruto looked around to see a familiar hallway. "Are we…?"

"Go in." Sasuke pointed his thumb towards the door, which Naruto knew led into the Hokage's office.

Naruto swallowed the lump in his throat and gently opened the door.

~ ҉ ~

"Baa-chan! Pervy Sage!" Naruto bounded into the office, and into the arms of the blonde Hokage. Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's hair and Tsunade crushed Naruto in her hug.

"Brat, what took you so long to get back? We've been worried sick!" Tsunade scowled at Naruto, who pulled back and grinned at her.

"Yeah well, I'm here now and that's all that matters!" Naruto replied, before recounting how Sasuke had caught him, and their travel back to the village.

"Hm… Well, I had better check your chest, in case of infection of any sort." Tsunade said, and reached to grab the hem of Naruto's shirt.

"No! It's fine! Sasuke bandaged it while Kyuubi healed me." Naruto said, holding down his shirt with one hand and the other in a 'stop!' gesture towards Tsunade. She huffed.

"Fine, Brat." Tsunade said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. Jiraiya fished in his pocket and pulled out two black books. Each having a red warning symbol on its back, with the words, 'Icha Icha Love-struck!' adorning the front.

"My newest book! One for Kakashi and the other for you." Jiraiya smirked when Naruto blushed a heavy crimson.

"Why the hell would I want one of these?" Naruto said grimly, but grabbed the books anyway. Jiraiya just smiled to Naruto, who scowled towards the white haired pervert. Tsunade slapped Jiraiya over the face, and left a comical red hand print on Jiraiya's cheek.

Naruto grinned at the two Legendary Sennin's, and the familiarity of it all brought warm feelings into his chest. Had it really been five years?

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair as Tsunade and Jiraiya started to bicker. Or well, basically Tsunade as yelling at Jiraiya, who simply told her how adorable she was being. Hn.

Naruto cleared his throat and the bickering stopped as everyone's attention was drawn to the whiskered blonde.

"This isn't how you want to be spending my 'welcome back' party is it? Fighting and slapping each other?" Naruto said as Jiraiya grinned. Tsunade rubbed her temple and Sasuke snorted.

"Oh and since I'm here… I need to talk to you, Baa-chan." Naruto said, the teasing dropping from his voice to be replaced with utter seriousness. "Sasuke… I'll meet up with you later." If Sasuke was an idiot, he would have stayed. Sasuke simply grunted and turned from the room. Whatever Naruto and Tsunade (and possibly Jiraiya) had to talk about, it wasn't any business.

The door closed with a soft 'click' and Naruto waited a few minutes before speaking. He couldn't feel any other chakra signatures around, so he felt safe in talking.

"Baa-chan… Ero-sennin… the village is in danger." Naruto said bluntly. Jiraiya raised an eyebrow and Tsunade looked thoughtful.

"Danger as in what? Pain? Orochimaru?"

"No. much worse. I have reasons to believe that this could be worse than Pain and Orochimaru." Naruto said, cracking his knuckles and glaring to the floor. The two scrolls and Kyuubi had given more than enough information to support the theory.

"Hm… what exactly would we be dealing with?" Jiraiya asked, sitting on the windowsill. A soft breeze blew through, causing his long white hair to follow the wind's direction. His face was set in seriousness, and his body stiff as though ready for any attack.

"I'm not entirely sure. Whatever it is, it's associated with blood. The blood of the clans and the blood through our veins." Naruto subconsciously ran a hand down the inner side of his arm, his fingers dancing across his skin as though following the veins. "Though whatever this is, it has connected the clans."

"What, like the clans had bred together? That's never happened." Tsunade exclaimed, scrunching her hands on the table, her nails leaving tiny dints. Naruto sighed and shook his head.

"No. Kyuubi told me that it was not through… that." Naruto made a face, "but were literally connected. I'm not entirely sure how… but, that's what Kyuubi told me."

"I see… is there anything else that we should know of?"

"Yeah, it also mentions a wolf. Fur covered in blood, its death brings immortality to mortality, yada yada…" Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "I'll give you the scrolls containing the details later. But… another thing is that it's called… 'Chi no Noroi'." Naruto saw the Sennin's stiffen, before relaxing simultaneously. He raised an eyebrow.

"I've heard of this…" Tsunade began, and Jiraiya nodded. Tsunade laced her fingers together, resting her elbows on her desk and bringing her hands up to her forehead. She rested her head against her hands, and her fingers brushed the small purple diamond on her forehead.

"If I've hear correctly, then… we should be worried. _'Blood bound by fury, and endless pain. Blinded by red and purple, the shadows of a right hand. The power to see into your mind, but with mastery at weaponry and melee. Canines bite mercy, bugs die in blood. An endless appetite, the never ending spiral. When brought together, your own blood will be your end._'" Tsunade whispered, voice grave. Jiraiya sighed, a brought a hand up the side of his face as he thought.

"That was what we had been told when we were young. We were only children… and we thought it would be… fun to get our futures told by a gypsy woman," Jiraiya said slowly, "but instead of our future, we were told that."

"This is… insane. Our own blood will be our end? How does that work?" Naruto asked, folding his arms over his stomach. Worry had begun to settle in.

"I'm not one hundred per cent sure…" Tsunade whispered, bringing her hands down. Her eyes had a faraway look to them.

"Naruto… you best let us talk to ourselves at the moment. Thank you for bringing us this information." Jiraiya said, and stood before motioning for Naruto to leave. Naruto raised an eyebrow, before nodding quickly.

"Fine. But I want to know what's going on." Naruto said before putting his henge back up and leaving. Jiraiya turned to Tsunade, and both stared at each other before Tsunade said,

"So, it's finally showed up…"

~ ҉ ~

"Sasuke, you here?" Naruto called into the cabin, not really expecting a reply. A grumpy, 'Hn.' came from the lounge and Naruto sighed.

The blonde fell back onto the couch, his head against the edge and his legs and arms spread over the vicinity of the couch. Sasuke sat in his usual spot, the armchair beside a bookcase. He had some book in his hands, but his eyes were on Naruto.

"So what did you talk about?" Sasuke asked, not looking at the book as he turned the page. Naruto groaned and looked up at Sasuke with weary eyes.

"I'm tired. Drop the subject…" Naruto said, but it was only half-hearted.

"Hn." Sasuke huffed, dragging his eyes to his book. They both sat in silence, before Sasuke looked up again. This time, Naruto was sitting straight up, looking out the window. His hands were clasped together, and his face was thoughtful.

"What's on your mind, dobe?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto shifted his eyes to the Uchiha before looking back out the window.

"I'm going to give you… a choice."

"A choice?"

"A choice. You may ask one question from me, and that is all you will be getting. Do not expect any other questions until I am ready to tell you. For example. I can tell you everything I know about the Hidden Village. You could use that information to probably get yourself into ANBU. Or, I can tell you absolutely everything I have on the 'Chi no Noroi'. You name it, I'll tell you. But again, you may not ask any other questions until I am ready to tell you." Naruto said this suddenly, and it caught the Uchiha by surprise. This was actually a rare feat. Something dark swam behind the blonde's eyes before it disappeared.

"Hn. Do I have to ask it now?" Sasuke asked, pulling his stoic face back up.

"Yes. Now or never, Teme."

"Fine. Tell me about my brother."

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter seventeen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Well, Naruto certainly didn't expect that as the question. He had thought that Sasuke would have asked more about the 'Chi no Noroi', especially with the reaction the Uchiha had given when Itachi was even mentioned.

But of course, he didn't say 'fine, tell me about my brother' in a normal voice. It was more… forced out. His hands were clenched into fists, and his teeth grinding against each other. Sasuke glared towards the floor at Naruto's feet. Said Blonde was currently frozen in the position he was sitting in.

"Did you hear me?" Sasuke ground out, voice thick. Naruto seemingly unfroze, as his eyes slowly slid from the window to Sasuke.

"Y-yeah I heard you. What do you want to know?"

"Everything… starts off with how the hell you know him."

"W-well, you know… I know him from the… the massacre…." Naruto shook his head and Sasuke snorted.

"Yes, yes I already know that. But… other than that, how do you know him?" Sasuke directed his glare towards Naruto, who stiffened and then relaxed.

"S-sure… well… um… I guess it started six months after I…left…" Naruto reached up to scratch the back of his head, thinking of what to say next. Sasuke leant forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together, then resting his head on his hands. His gaze was focussed on Naruto, who began to speak.

"So… I guess it started with this…"

~ ҉ ~

_Naruto leant against a large tree, its leaves casting a cooling shadow over the blonde. A few small cuts ran over his arms and one running above his right eyebrow. He was beginning to get used to his cloak, but it still managed to trip him since it was rather long on him. The wind was slow and gentle as it blew through the trees, managing to ruffle the blonde's hair._

_Naruto pulled out a small map from his bag, and looked it over. Even with the map, he couldn't pin point his location. He sighed, half annoyed as he rolled it back up and pushed it back into his bag. He hadn't had time to grab supplies from his home before he left the village, but managed to get a bag and long black cloak from a neighbouring village who, thankfully, did not know about his leaving._

_A small rustle caught Naruto's attention as he looked over to where he heard it. He smiled; waiting to see what cute fluffy animal would jump out and scare him. So he obviously didn't expect the soft and fluffy animal to turn out to be… Itachi Uchiha. Shock and fear immediately settled within Naruto, as he pushed himself against the tree. Itachi took a slow step forward, his Sharingan eyes watching the blonde thoughtfully._

"_Stay back! I'll… I'll… um…" Naruto mumbled, and stood up quickly, drawing a kunai out from his weapon pouch. Itachi cocked his head to the side, still watching. Naruto tensed up, as he prepared himself for battle._

"_So, the little nine-tails was banished from his village." Was what Itachi said. Naruto tensed up again, and it was rather painful for his muscles._

"_What… how…" Naruto glared, raised his kunai higher. His other hand, concealed by the cloak, had several shuriken nestled between his fingers. Itachi still had the thoughtful expression on his face was replied._

"_Oh please, it's very well known amongst the Akatsuki. It's a hot topic, seeing as you're now defenceless and alone…" Itachi straightened out his head and took another step forward._

"_You coward! Coming after me, just because I've got no one! Have you no shame? I thought that an infamous Uchiha would rather a challenge then wait for their victim to be alone before kidnapping them!" Naruto growled, bending his knees slightly. He was a little confused as to why Itachi had yet to make a threatening move._

"_Kidnap you? Hardly." Itachi snorted, and aimed a glare to the blonde. Of course, Naruto had had practice at being unaffected by the Famous Uchiha Glare since he hung out with Sasuke, but… Itachi was worse._

"_Then what are you here for? To kill me?"_

"_No, not that either. Actually, I want to help you." Itachi said it so bluntly, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world._

"_Help? I highly doubt that!" Naruto snarled, before jumping towards the Uchiha. Although, Itachi had assumed the attack, and was able to deflect it. As the blonde moved forward, Itachi took a single step forward, and using the tips of his forefinger and middle finger, he hit the blonde on the back of his head, causing him to land face first into the ground._

_Naruto spat dirt from his mouth, and pushed himself up from the ground. Itachi watched, standing with a relax posture, and smirked._

"_Do not attack me, unless you actually do want to die, rather than get help from me." Itachi grabbed Naruto by the back of his cloak, as though he was picking up a small animal by the scruff of their neck. Naruto was highly confused as he was lifted off the ground and placed on his feet._

"_Now, I assume you've had nowhere decent to stay?" Itachi asked, crossing his arms lightly over his chest. Naruto was momentarily distracted by his Sharingan eyes, before he looked away and answered._

"_No, not really. I've been… well… there was a… cave… that I've been staying in…" Naruto admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicking the dirt. It was strange how he now felt so… relaxed around the eldest Uchiha. A minute before, he was ready to kill the Sharingan wielder, but now… and the fact that Itachi had made no move to even attack was confusing the hell out of him._

"_Right. Well I happen to know a place you can stay at…" Itachi then described the transaction to and from a place called 'The Hidden Village'. It wasn't a very original name, and sounded rather stupid to the blonde. But then again, Konoha was known as, 'The Village hidden in the Leaves,' so it wasn't that bad…_

"_That's it? I can get a room there and everything?" Naruto looked doubtful towards Itachi, who sighed and rubbed at his temples as his eyes closed._

"_Yes. There is a policy there, that whenever a new hidden Nin arrives, he or she is to be given a place to stay, regardless of how long they are to be there." Itachi replied._

"_That sounds… good." Naruto said, happy to be able to actually be able to sleep in a bed again. After six months in a cave, well…._

"_Also, I have something to give you." Itachi pulled out a file, about a Manilla folder from under his Akatsuki cloak._

"_What the heck is this?" Naruto asked, hesitantly taking the folder from Itachis hands._

"_It is a folder containing very important information. This information regards something called the 'Chi no Noroi', which is dangerous and may be coming after the village."_

"_What the hell is a 'Chi no Noroi'?"_

"_The 'Chi no Noroi' is explained in a basic manner in that folder." There was a few moments silence._

"_ITACHI? WHERE ARE YOU?" A voice broke through the little bubble of silence that surrounded the blonde and Uchiha. Itachi swore. He actually _swore_!_

"_Naruto, move. Get away!" Itachi hissed, pushing Naruto back. The push was unexpected, and Naruto ended up falling on his arse on the ground. He let out a small whine of pain, just as Itachis shark-look-alike of a partner walked over. Kisames wrapped up sword was currently being wielded in his right hand and the gills on his face opened and closed as he breathed in._

"_Ah! So you found the nine-tails jinchuuriki! Good, now we can take him back with us!" Kisame grinned, pointing his sword towards Naruto, who gaped._

"_You lied to me!" Naruto yelled, his anger rising quickly._

"_Uchiha's do not lie!" Itachi snapped._

"_Tell that to yourself, mate. You lied about the reason for the massacre!" Kisame chuckled, which was a giant mistake. Itachis Sharingan revolved in his eyes, and he quietly said, 'Tsukiyomi!' and Kisame made the mistake to look into his partner's eyes. Kisames hands flew up to his head, his eyes shutting tightly._

"_Naruto, run now." Itachi grumbled._

"_What…?" Itachi turned to glare at Naruto, who flinched. A small drop of blood slowly trained down Itachis cheek, running away from his eye._

"_Naruto… keep Sasuke safe. Do not betray him, like I have. You must be a better brother for him then I have." Itachi turned his head back to the shaking body of Kisame._

"_I-Itachi…" Naruto stammered, before Itachi through a hand out. It was pointed somewhere behind the blonde, who guessed it was towards a certain destination._

"_The Hidden Village is over in that direction. The arch is made up of piles of stones. It's easy to see. Now GO!" Itachi hissed, pushing more strength into his eyes. "I'll catch up when I can. GO!"_

_Naruto ran._

~ ҉ ~

Naruto was now lying down on the couch, looking up at the ceiling. Sasuke had not moved much throughout the talk, only his eyes moving from Naruto to somewhere, then back to the blonde.

"That's about it."

"Did he catch up to you?" Sasuke asked, speaking for the first time in about an hour since Naruto had started speaking.

"Uh… he did…" Naruto said, scratching his cheek. The next piece of information was a… tender subject for Sasuke. Of course, Sasuke had told Naruto about that night, but Naruto knew the truth behind it.

"Well, what did he say?" Sasuke hissed through his teeth. His feelings were currently at war inside of him. He didn't want to hear about his brother, but he did. He half tensed, half relaxed as Naruto began to talk again. It was definitely an odd sensation.

"Well… we talked about… what really happened the night of the… massacre." Naruto said gently, barely let out a breath. Sasuke glared towards the blonde, grinding his teeth together painfully.

"What do you mean, 'what really happened'? He kills them, all of them, and there's nothing more to it!"

"There is! You knew what your brother was like! Would he really just go and kill your family to test his abilities? To risk hurting you like that?" Naruto hissed back then watched as numeral emotions flicking through the Uchiha's eyes. Almost like it was played in frame by frame. Uncertainties, realization, annoyance, fear.

"Of course he would." Sasuke managed to spit out, but both he and Naruto knew that he was lying.

"No, Sasuke, he didn't… what really happened was… and please don't kill me for this… but…" Naruto paused, taking a breath and began the tale.

"The Uchiha's were… well… they planned to… overthrow Konoha…" Naruto saw Sasuke stiffen, but he continued regardless. "Itachi was given an order to spy on the village. But, he spied on your clan instead… he gave all that information to the third Hokage and the elders… Danzo and the council had actually… um… order Itachi to… wipe out your clan."

A drop of sweat slowly fell down Naruto's temple, before sliding down his neck. Sasuke was sitting stiffly, tense all over and anger written on his face.

"Then something happened between him and a guy called Madara… he didn't tell me what they talked about, but Itachi was helping him with something. Then… that night came… the massacre. True, it was Itachi who killed everyone in the clan… but, he didn't kill you because he wanted you to suffer… he couldn't kill you…" Naruto sighed, as Sasuke's arm twitched, and he was unsure if he was trying to reach for his katana or to throw a punch or something.

"Should i… stop talking?" Naruto asked quietly, and flinched when Sasuke's angry eyes turned to him.

"You stop talking, and I swear I'll kill you. Finish." Sasuke said, voice dripping with anger. Naruto stuttered for a moment, and then thought before he spoke.

"After that night, he went to the third Hokage. He asked the third to look after you, to keep you safe. He even threatened Danzo not to harm you; otherwise he'd reveal all of Konohas secrets…"

There was a moment's silence.

"He's… dying, Sasuke." Naruto said softly, and Sasuke lurched out of his seat. Naruto only just recognized tears falling from Sasuke's eyes, but he didn't have time to think about it when Sasuke wrapped his hands around Narutos neck. It was very painful and uncomfortable.

"You're lying. You're lying!" Sasuke hissed, squeezing a little bit tighter.

"I'm not… he's… there's something wrong with him… I don't know what, but… Sasuke… he wants to die by your hands…" Naruto used the last of his breath to say that, and Sasuke quickly pulled his hands away as Naruto slowly turned a light shade of purple.

Naruto gasped, clawing at his throat and chest. Sasuke furiously wiped at his eyes.

"Anything else?" Sasuke spat, trying to keep his anger and pain inside of him.

"That's… that's it… he told me that and left…" Naruto coughed.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, before walking out of the cabin. The door closed with a loud, 'THUD' and Naruto was left alone, wheezing and gasping for breath.

He had expected Sasuke to be more… overcome? Then to have been full of rage he willing used against himself. Naruto sighed, rubbing at his neck. If it was to bruise, it would be healed before it could turn purple, thanks to Kyuubi.

Naruto didn't need to be the smartest person on earth to know that Sasuke felt betrayed. And being his normal self, he probably wanted to be alone to think.

Naruto wouldn't need an apology from Sasuke about strangling him, because he already forgave him. Suddenly feeling tired, he slowly walked to his bed and fell down onto it. Sasuke would be back to himself within a few days, he was sure. He just needed time.

And with that off his chest, Naruto fell into his much overdue sleep.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter eighteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Pain. An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.

Yes, Sasuke Uchiha felt pain. The emotional pain that filled him battled with the hate and confusion in his heart. Sasuke's feet led him through Konoha, his mind not telling them where to go. He just walked. He guessed that his pain, hate and confusion led him to his destination, since his mind was focussing on other things.

Why had his clan wanted to overthrow Konoha? For the power? Superiority? Naruto hadn't told him the reason for that and it was beginning to irk the Uchiha. His fists clenched together, as he walked. His eyes closed and opened, each blink making him think that he was trying to erase the pain.

When the Uchiha's feet stopped, he was annoyed at where he found himself to be. Before him, the Uchiha mansion stood. His teeth ground together, at the place he had once called home. Could it ever be that again? Or would these painful memories remain, so he could never be at peace here again?

Several ideas bloomed in his mind, all of which were the most tempting. He could burn down this place, so he would never have to face it again, and hopefully, it would burn away the dark past it withheld. Or, he could go and kill the council, since it was their fault that his clan was dead. They were what turned Itachi on him, and made his brother betray him.

Sasuke looked around, a frown marring his features. This place was nothing but a bad memory, a scar in his mind. He brought a hand to his head, using his thumb and middle finger to gently rub circles into his temples. But no matter what calming thoughts he had, he was still very angry.

His hand fell back to his side, his eyes turned down to the ground. A simple solution came to his mind, and he brought his hands together in front of him.

~ ҉ ~

"Mmm… Ramen…" Naruto mumbled as he dreamt, his dream-self ran through a field of ramen trees. His hands balled into the material of his pillow, as he hugged it against himself.

Kakashi stood in the doorway, looking doubtfully at the blonde. Ramen again? The silver haired Jounin shook his head slightly before walking over to the bed. A long drawn out whine escaped the blondes' lips as he said, "No…. Don't run away! I'll be your friend, Ramen King!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, before knocking Naruto over the head with his Icha Icha book. The blonde blinked, and looked up at Kakashi.

"Wha-? ...why'd you wake me?" Naruto said, rubbing his eyes.

"You might want to come with me…" Kakashi shook his head and slowly made his way through the door and into the living room. Naruto yawned, before pulling his orange outfit on. He walked into the living room, pulled on his cloak and mask, and swiftly did a _henge_ before following Kakashi out the door, as the Jounin also used a _henge_.

They walked through Konoha, and Naruto noticed the villagers looking shell-shocked and some even looking frightened. Kakashi looked up at the sky and frowned.

"What do you make of that, Jari?" Kakashi asked quietly, and it took a moment for Naruto to look up. He almost forgot about his _henge _name. Large black clouds of smoke and ash covered the once blue sky. It seemed to be coming from deeper into the village and Naruto could just make out the tips of flames at the bottom of the smoke clouds.

"I… I dunno. What is that?"

"We're about to find out." Kakashi said, picking up his pace.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke stood on the top of the Hokage building, watching the flames burning. The flames licked up the walls of the building, slowly turning it black. Black clouds of smoke and ash billowed upwards, choking the sky and anyone close by. Lots of the village shinobi where standing nearby, those with Water Jutsu attempting to salvage the buildings.

The Uchiha compound slowly found itself burning to the ground, the wooden structures slowly screaming into the fire. Sasuke snorted. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and it slowly made Sasuke feel oddly better. It would probably come back and kick him in the ass later, but at the moment he felt content watching it burn.

A flurry of moment came from behind, and Sasuke found himself in the company of two _henge_'d persons.

"Why'd you do it, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, coming and standing next to the Uchiha. He snorted.

"What makes you think I did it?" Naruto gave Sasuke a strange look, before turning back to observe the flames.

"You'll regret this later, you know."

"Hn." Sasuke crossed his arms, and attempted to breath in some fresh air. But unfortunately, the air was getting polluted from the ash and smoke. Damnit.

"Don't you 'Hn' me, Teme. If you have to let out some anger, spar with me or something, not burn down your house." Naruto snapped, crossing his arms and glaring at Sasuke. Sasuke gave Naruto a look from the corner of his eyes and sighed.

"I don't want to talk about it, and I probably never will. What's done is done, and I don't care if they save that damn place or it burns to the ground." Sasuke hissed, glaring out towards the burning buildings. Naruto shook his head.

"You know, Sasuke, that the council will be definitely pissed off about this. You might even get locked up for destruction of village property and tried for treason." Kakashi said, standing on the other side of Sasuke with an odd happy look on his face. His _henge_'d eyes were in the shape of up turned 'U''s and he was smiling.

"Hn." Was what Sasuke said, and "What the hell! Don't be so happy about it!" was from Naruto.

"Why would they lock me up for destruction of village property, if I burned down my own property?" Sasuke asked.

"Because, ultimately, it is in the village vicinity, therefore belonging to the village regardless of property entitlements."

"I'm sure the council will be just as amused about this as you are." Sasuke replied. Naruto huffed.

"You're both being stupid. Sasuke, you better not regret this." Naruto said, and they all fell into a silence as the village shinobi attempted to salvage the Uchiha compound.

~ ҉ ~

A couple of days later, Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in Naruto's favourite ramen shop. Naruto was happily munching down on his ramen, while Sasuke sat staring at his bowl in silence.

"Another bowl please!" Naruto called happily, his _henge_'d eyes sparkling. Another bowl of miso ramen was placed in front of him and he happily slurped it down. Sasuke sighed.

"Well, apparently they couldn't save the Uchiha compound." Sasuke said with a smirk on his lips. It was still satisfying to know that the place was gone.

"Well, that's what you get for burning it down." Naruto replied, swallowing the rest of the Ramen in his bowl. He let out a content sigh before turning to Sasuke.

"Thanks for buying me ramen, Teme!" Naruto said with a grin before jumping out his seat and walking out of the store. Sasuke stiffened, slapped the money on the counter and followed the blonde out the store. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled him back.

"What the hell, dobe?" Sasuke hissed, crossing his arms over his chest. Naruto just grinned.

"What the what?" Naruto said, not even caring that he sounded like an idiot. Sasuke simply whacked him over the head and sighed.

"TEME!" Naruto yelled and was about to lunge at the raven when something caught his attention. Naruto stiffened, and his arms fell to his sides. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and followed the blonde's gaze, and he felt himself stiffen too. His hand twitched towards his katana as a figure walked up to them.

It was a late at night, so no one was out. The street was empty, and the shops either closed or about to close. A soft wind breezed through the almost empty street, blowing the cloaks and baggy clothes of the three people' in a northern direction.

Waru slowly approached the two men with a small smile on his twisted face. His eyes were cold and held a hint of insanity in them. His face was stressed, the edges of his mouth tight and cracking. His hair was dishevelled, and his hands twitched slowly in front of him.

"Good evening boys. What a lovely night this is, no?" Waru said, his voice low. His voice was old and cracking, and Naruto and Sasuke both hated the sound.

"It's a fine night. Though I believe anything good that has happened has dropped at your arrival, Waru." Sasuke replied to him, his hand finding the handle of his katana. Waru's eyes twitched to the blade and then shifted to Naruto's face.

"Ah! A new comer! And what fine family have you come from, boy?" Waru said, a feral smile gracing his features.

"Uh… Nara. I'm Jari Nara!" Naruto said quickly, his voice squeaking slightly as he held out a hand. Waru looked at it, frowned and then smiled again.

"No, I'm afraid that if I touch your hand, I may accidently cut you and steal your blood!" Waru said, voice some-what playful, and his eyes sparkled. Although, it was not happiness, but evilness. Both the Uchiha and Uzumaki gave Waru a blank look.

"Tisk, tisk! Shouldn't have that sort of expression on your face! Someone like me may go slightly insane and hurt you for it!" Waru coughed and slowly made his way past them. His eyebrows furrowed and he stopped almost two metres away from them.

"Unfortunately, any attempt at concealment doesn't work with me. Although, it was fun to see you try. It was fun to talk to you, Uchiha-san, and most amusing to talk to you again, _Naruto-kun_!"

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter nineteen**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

"I fucking swear it! He called me Naruto-kun! No doubt about it!" Naruto stressed, almost attempting to pull his blonde hair out. Jiraiya, Tsunade, Sasuke, Kakashi and Naruto sat in the cabins' living room, discussing about the encounter with Waru from the night before.

"I don't doubt that, but he's insane, Naruto. Anything remotely orange could make him believe it's you. I wouldn't worry too much about it." Jiraiya said, leaning back against the far wall. His face was grim and thoughtful.

"But… but!" Naruto gaped, slamming his hands down on his knees.

"He mentioned something about stealing Naruto's blood. Can that be related to the 'Chi no Noroi'?" Sasuke asked, looking towards Tsunade. She looked at him with a thoughtful expression.

"Hm. How much do you know about the 'Chi no Noroi', Sasuke?" Tsunade asked.

"Not much." Sasuke shook his head, a bit irritated with the fact.

"Well, it's said that the 'Chi no noroi' steals blood. I haven't read the entire scroll that Naruto received, and from prior knowledge, it's been mentioned several times." Tsunade shook her head.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that he's a part of it, does it?" Naruto asked hesitantly.

"Could be. We wouldn't know, but it doesn't say that the 'chi no noroi' is human. It's just a curse." Jiraiya said, irritated. Sasuke guessed that he didn't really believe any of this 'chi no noroi' crap.

"But it doesn't say it's not either!" Naruto huffed back. Jiraiya shook his head.

"It's a curse, Naruto. Humans aren't curses. The fact that-"

"IDIOT! Shut up!" Tsunade yelled, standing quickly and aiming a glare towards the other sannin. Everyone in the room flinched, except for Kakashi. He stood there with a knowing smile on his face. Not that anyone could see it, though.

"But Tsunade-"

"No! We aren't getting anywhere! You're both right, but you shouldn't just assume the other is wrong!" Tsunade hissed before plopping back in her seat.

"If I may, shouldn't we just stick to the subject of Waru knowing of Naruto's presence in Konoha?" Kakashi said, all the while smiling towards the other people in the room. A few murmurs of agreement could be heard before Naruto spoke.

"Look, I know it might be stupid, but I think it's true. I think Waru could be behind the 'Chi no Noroi', and he might be a big danger to the village!" Naruto sighed when he finished, and looked at his hands.

"And if you're correct, then the village and villagers are in terrible danger. But if you're wrong, then we've wasted much needed time and concentration on this." Tsunade nodded.

"But better safe the sorry." Jiraiya replied, smiling at Naruto. Sure, they might fight a lot, but Jiraiya still loved the blonde headed idiot.

"I think I agree with Naruto. Although, I think I'd rather read the 'Chi no Noroi' scroll before I make any big decisions." Sasuke said, resting his head on his hands. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"I cannot get you the scroll, but I can answer any questions you might have." Tsunade said, leaning back in her chair. She felt very, very tired.

"What are we dealing with? If the 'chi no noroi' steals blood, then I'd like to figure out what that means."

"Hm… let me think for a second…" Tsunade scratched the side of her head, and then snapped her fingers. "I remember now! Ok… '_The blood that runs through your veins should be kept to yourself. If it so slips away, you'll feel yourself lose your own control. Become a slave under the curse's control, due as it bids until the blood that was taken has broken through time. The curse will still your blood, make it its own. Keep skin intact, keep away from violence, and protect yourself. Or become a puppet of the curse_.' From memory, that's about as much as I can grab. Hopefully it's good enough for you?" Tsunade asked with a shake of her head.

"It's… satisfactory." Sasuke muttered, leaning back in his seat. Naruto brought a hand up to the back of his head and scratched an itchy spot.

"So, the 'chi no noroi' is kind of like a puppeteer?" Naruto asked thoughtfully. Tsunade shrugged.

"That's what it suggests. Although, it does mention other things." Tsunade said. Naruto suddenly jumped in his spot, giving a Tsunade and Jiraiya a near heart attack.

"I just remembered something Kyuubi told me!" Naruto broke into a grin. "I'm not sure it's relevant, but since you mentioned 'other things' I thought, what the hell! Anyway, he said… uh…. All of us were connected… it didn't say who though, but it's that we were connected by blood, but not through relations? I dunno, Kyuubi wasn't specific…" Naruto shook his head.

"I suppose that's true, but yes, it's not relevant. So unless you want to talk about Waru, we can talk about that." Jiraiya nodded.

"I cannot see how Waru could be involved with the 'chi no noroi'. He has uses earth jutsu, nothing to do with blood." Kakashi pointed out. "And that stealing blood thing was probably just a slip of insanity. Just a coincidence that it was similar to the 'chi no noroi'."

"But… he has to be a part of it! Even in some way! Maybe he… he… I dunno, maybe he just steals the blood for the 'chi no noroi'?" Naruto said, looking at everyone with pleading eyes. He had to figure this out.

"Naruto…I know that you want to solve both of these issues, but don't you think it's a bit unrationed to just link them together without solid evidence? Only a small thing, a play of words, cannot prove anything." Tsunade said, leaning forward in her seat and giving Naruto a sympathetic look. Naruto's eyes turned dark and disbelieving, before his face fell expressionless.

"Fine." Was all he said before he stood. He gave everyone a quick look, face blank, before shuffling into his room. The other persons in the cabin watched the door curiously, before Tsunade sighed.

"I don't think we'll be getting through to him any time soon." Jiraiya muttered, standing to his full height and stretching his arms lazily over his head.

"Hn. Maybe is you had a little confidence in him, he might be willing to listen more to your ideas. Has Naruto ever been wrong about something like this? Whenever he's had a bad feeling, or has practically sensed something off, he's been right about it." Sasuke muttered, crossing his arms. Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? I suppose you do have a point…" She murmured before standing also, "I need to go talk to the council. Apparently some Ninja have input some mucked up reports or something." She rubbed a hand over her face, feeling suddenly tired. "I'll come by again tomorrow, I guess." And with that, she left. Jiraiya followed at her heels, waving a hand to the others.

Kakashi watched Sasuke with a bemused smile, though Sasuke couldn't see it. Sasuke simply glared at walked over to the closed bedroom door.

"Oi, Dobe. Everyone's gone; did you wanna go spar or something?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the door frame. A few shuffles could be heard from behind the door before Naruto called back.

"Maybe later."

Sasuke grunted and lay on the couch. His arms were braced behind his head and he looked at Kakashi, his view upside down.

"What will you be doing? I'm sure you wouldn't be bothered to stay here."

"No, I couldn't be bothered to stay here. Maybe I'll go wander the streets of my fair Konoha and help some damsels in distress. Ja ne!" Kakashi said with a smile, before poofing away. Sasuke snorted. Their former sensei was still an idiot.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter twenty**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

The withered council member walked slowly down the road. His eyes taking in everything, although he appeared to be looking at nothing. Internally, he smirked. His hunched over body led him through the village, occasionally getting greeted by a villager or child. One little girl with brown pig-tails was skipping through the street when Waru addressed her.

"Little girl! How are you today?" Waru greeted, his wrinkled face holding a smile. The little girl looked up with her innocent blue eyes and smiled back.

"Hello council member. I'm doing well today!" She replied, folding her arms behind her back.

"That's very good to hear. May I tell you of a little poem I know? I'm sure you'll like it!" Waru grinned, bending over slightly so he came to the girls eye-level.

"Sure! I love poems!" the girl giggled, and leant forward as Waru whispered in her ear.

~ ҉ ~

"Sasuke! Let's go to Ichiraku's!" Naruto complained to the raven haired man beside him. They had just finished sparing, and the blonde was hungry.

"Go by yourself." Sasuke snorted while standing and idly brushing dirt of his pants. Naruto frowned.

"Nuh uh! I'm not allowed to be out by myself, remember?" Naruto huffed, crossing his arms. Sasuke sighed.

"Take Kakashi." Was the reply.

"TEME!" Naruto huffed again. What was Sasuke's problem? The raven haired Uchiha slowly made his way back to the cabin as he left Naruto alone in the middle of the training field. Naruto sighed and stood, running a hand through his hair. His stomach growled again, and he slowly made his way into the village, the opposite way to where his best friend has just gone.

Naruto got to his favourite ramen stand, and a grin made its way onto his face. He was in his henge, and his brown eyes sparkled mischievously. He was about to step in the store when a slight tug on his shirt made him turn around.

A small girl with brown haired tied into two pig-tails was looking up at him with a small smile on her face.

"You're name is… Ja-Jari, right?" the little girl smiled at him. Naruto paused, and then smiled at her.

"Sure. Who are you?" the girl ignored him and asked him a question instead.

"Can I tell you a secret?" the girl asked. Naruto opened his mouth to say no; when the girl pulled his head down and whispered in his ear;

_'Little fox, run not play, hiding from their enemies' way._

_Little fox, come and see, that you should try to flee._

_Little fox, do not cry, because today you are about to die…_

_Bakamono, can't you see, what your pet's about to be?_

_Bakamono, do not run, the search is long past done._

_Bakamono, today you have leaded him to his death.'_

Naruto stumbled back, falling on his ass. He stared at the girl in horror, as she taped her thumb.

"What… what the hell are you on about?" Naruto gasped at her, as he heard Kyuubi snarl within.

"I got told by someone important to tell you that." The girl replied, skipping away.

"Fuck it! I thought that poem was long gone! How can someone even remember that?" Kyuubi snarled, pacing in his cage. Naruto scrunched up his eyebrows.

"Remember what? It was just a stupid poem from when I was a kid… but the second part isn't recognisable…"

"Because that second part is addressed to me, brat!" Kyuubi snarled again. Naruto frowned, standing and walking back to the cabin, his hunger long gone.

"What do you mean, addressed to you? It's just a poem about a baby fox, not you!"

"Baka! The second part is me, the first part is you! The little fox is you!" Kyuubi snarled, throwing a tantrum inside of his cage. The sensation gave Naruto a bad headache.

"Me? What the hell do you mean me?" Naruto asked. A few nearby villagers looked at him with worried expressions, and Naruto realized that they thought he was talking to himself. Naruto ran instead, as he talked to Kyuubi. He felt half relieved when they got to the gates.

"You, brat, are the 'little fox' in the poem. Don't you think it would be suspicious if it said 'Naruto' instead?" Kyuubi said to him.

"… I suppose you're right, it would be suspicious. But what have I got to do with anything?"

"It was a prophecy by Waru when you were born. He prophesized about the day you would die, but it came out weird, and addressed both of us instead of just you."

"What? I didn't realize Waru could do prophecies."

"Because he _can't_. I know for a fact that he can't. It's not a real prophecy, but the fact it's about your death is true." Kyuubi replied, and Naruto accidently ran into the wall of the cabin. He landed backwards, his head hitting the ground hard. He glared at the wall, not realizing he was already there. Thankfully, the impact hadn't reversed Naruto's henge. The door to the cabin opened and a pissed off Uchiha came out.

"You know, you didn't have to just slam the wall to get me to open the… What are you doing on the ground?"

"I've got no time! I've had some random kid tell me a fucking creepy poem, and Kyuubi said it was about my death, and now Waru is some creep who faked a prophecy and now I'm freaking out and-"

"Dobe, shut up." Sasuke hissed. Naruto gaped.

"Don't you even care?" Naruto asked, hurt in his voice.

"Hn. You're freaking about nothing. What was the poem? It couldn't be all that bad." Sasuke said, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

_"Little fox, run not play, hiding from their enemies' way._

_Little fox, come and see, that you should try to flee._

_Little fox, do not cry, because today you are about to die…_

_Bakamono, can't you see, what your pet's about to be?_

_Bakamono, do not run, the search is long past done._

_Bakamono, today you have led him to his death-"_

"-that was the poem." Naruto recited, before directing a glare to the Uchiha. He was holding a hand to his chin, the other supporting his elbow. There was a thoughtful look on his face, but that look was dangerous. His face looked calm, but his eyes were a dark thunderstorm.

"I haven't heard that poem since we first were in the academy. I didn't realize people still remembered it." Sasuke said after a moment's silence.

"I know. Ever since Iruka walked in and banned us all from talking about it." Naruto nodded standing and brushing the dirt off himself. Kyuubi was silently observing the conversation from his cage, apparently forgotten by the blonde.

"Although, I don't remember the second part. That's not you though, right?" Sasuke asked, eyes focussing on a spot above Naruto's head.

"No, that's directed to Kyuubi. I think it's mocking him…" Naruto shook his head, faintly aware of Kyuubi pacing in his cage.

"Mocking?"

"Yes, about leading me to my death… didn't you hear the last line?" Naruto asked, throwing his hands up. Sasuke sighed, dropping his hands into his pockets.

"I heard. What are you going to do about it? I doubt it's about your death. It's just an old, stupid poem." Sasuke said, his eyes still focused on the spot above the blondes head.

"My god! How can you not believe me?" Naruto asked, anger and hurt rising in him. He barely heard Kyuubi speak to him through the fog of anger. "You were the one who said I was usually right about things! What the hell has happened to you?" Naruto snarled, his whiskers becoming more pronounced, and a hazy red began to override the blue in his eyes. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing has happened to me. I just don't think a poem has anything to do with your death."

"Until of course, someone gets hurt, then you'll realize the brat was right, and you'll feel anger, guilt… am I missing something?" a menacing voice broke the tension. Naruto sighed, and Sasuke tensed, eyes flicking around.

"Of course… you just have to interrupt." Naruto muttered, before black consumed both the Uchiha's and Uzumakis vision.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter twenty one**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

The first thing that registered in Sasukes mind was the sound of echoing laughter. It had a demonic tune, and left a small tingle down his spine.

Water lapped at his shins, leaving the hem of his pants wet and clingy. The only light to see by was a greenish hue, and a strange stench coated the area. Sasuke lifted his arm to his nose, using his sleeve to cut off the stench from his nose. Sasukes eyes blazed into his Sharingan, as he observed his surroundings. He was definitely not on the outskirts of Konoha anymore.

His eyes followed a random line to the side, and he saw a blonde headed figure come into his focus.

Naruto looked strange. His hair was no longer the sunny yellow it normally was, but instead was tainted green. His face looked haunted from the light, and his legs were drenched in the water. He was kneeling, rather than standing in the water. His hands were balled into fists by his side, and an angry aura surrounded him.

Sasukes eyes flicked up, and he felt like falling backwards. A large, red covered demon stood behind iron bars. Its head was turned on the side, with the left side of his face pressing into the bars. An evil grin was plastered on its face, and its eyes were narrowed. Two long red ears poked up from its head, and nine tails flowed and flicked behind it.

Kyuubi no Kitsune.

"well, the Uchiha visits me at last!" Kyuubi growled, his grin getting impossibly bigger. Narutos eyes focussed on Sasuke, and his eyebrows furrowed.

"It wasn't exactly a planned visit." Sasuke dead panned. Why was he here?

"yes, well, I do not generally let anyone in here, besides the brat and myself." Kyuubi responded.

"then why did you let me here?"

"because, Uchiha, you and the brat will have to be the little heroes and stand up to evil!" Kyuubi snickered, shifting slightly in his cage.

"oh? And what evil might that be?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his gaze shifting between Naruto and the demon fox.

"haven't you paid attention to anything the brat's been saying? Waru, Uchiha. Waru is the evil." Kyuubi said, directing a glare to the black haired man.

"Oh really?" Sasuke dead panned, crossing his arms over his chest with a blank face.

"yes, really. And you should be glad I'm willing to help. After all, I'm about to be… re-united with an old friend of mine, so you should be thankful." Kyuubi muttered, standing on all fours and his tails fanned around behind him.

"an old friend?" Naruto asked, finally speaking. Kyuubi and Sasuke looked to the blonde.

"yes. I believe Gekido is her name… she's a strange demon, and not a tailed one at that. She's a _Ketsueki Ookami_, a blood wolf." Kyuubi nodded at his knowledge.

"a blood wolf? Why is that familiar…?" Naruto muttered.

"because, She is part of the '_Chi no Noroi'_. Remember what you told the Uchiha? '_by its birth, its coat soaked by blood, brings forth the curse, but with its death it will bring the immortal curse to a mortal state, allowing the curse to fall into deaths embrace._' Or did you forget that already?" Kyuubi asked, silently letting his gaze flick between the blonde and black haired men.

"no, I remember. But, this blood wolf…eh, Gekido, is the thing that ties the curse to its immortality?" Naruto asked, slowly standing. He ignored the soaked pants clinging to his legs, put his hands on his hips and turned to the demon.

"essentially, yes. But she hasn't been 'born' yet."

"how can she be an old friend if she hasn't been born yet?" Sasuke asked with annoyance.

"because, Uchiha, she tends to be forced into a mini… capsule, until she is required." Kyuubi replied.

"sort of like a summoning technique? Except, stored in a… capsule, until she's needed?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head.

"exactly." Kyuubi stared at the Uchiha, giving him a strange look.

"right. So how will we know when she's be born?" Naruto asked, cutting off Sasukes question. Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

"hmm… well, I'm not sure. But it will be soon." Kyuubi finally let his eyes leave the Uchiha, and he began staring away.

"right. Be vague." Naruto huffed.

"how do we kill it?" Sasuke asked.

"oh, that's fairly simple. Just kill her like you would a normal wolf. Except... you have to extinguish her eyes."

"what?" Naruto asked while Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"well, her eyes are flames… if that makes sense. So in order to kill her, burning, stabbing, whatever, you have to get rid of her eyes. So, use water, wind, whatever to get rid of the fire in her eyes, and then finish her off." Kyuubi responded, before a yawn broke through his lips.

"there's one more thing I'm going to say, before I kick you both out of here." Kyuubi said, before sucking in a giant breath. His body seemed to grow much larger, and his eyes grew feral. He snarled, bringing his attention to Sasuke.

"I swear if you ever betray the brat, by not believing him or allowing him to be hurt, there will be hell to pay. I have not allowed you to become best friends with the brat for you to suddenly not care." Kyuubi snarled, his red chakra seeping from him and glided across the water towards Sasuke.

Sasukes back was straight, his eyes glaring at the demon.

"and who said I would do any of that?" Sasuke asked.

"no one had to. I can see it inside of you, Uchiha. You're like the rest of them. If you don't like the situation, you do what you can to get rid of it." Kyuubi snarled, and a burst of chakra sent them spiralling into darkness once more.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto groaned, a sharp pain erupting behind his eyes. Sasuke sat up, his Sharingan slowly fading from his eyes. He rubbed his eyes, and Naruto sat up clutching his head.

"what the hell was that?" Naruto grumbled, rubbing his head. Sasuke looked over to him. Apparently, they had both collapsed with that.

"how would I know? Aren't you more… sociable with Kyuubi?" Sasuke grumbled as he stood and brushed the dirt off his clothes.

"I guess. But sometimes I don't get him like that." Naruto stood, before realizing that through the talk with Kyuubi, he had lost his henge. he quickly found his way into the cabin, and promptly slammed the door in the Raven's face.

"Oi! Dobe, open the damn door!" Sasuke called angrily, slamming his fist on the door. He jiggled the door knob, and found it locked.

"why should I?" Naruto grumbled, leaning against the locked door.

"Dobe." Sasuke said as a warning, trying to turn the lock again. If it didn't open, he would bash the door down.

"I heard what Kyuubi said. You don't even believe me! Or care about the fact that I'm terrified out of my life at the moment!" Naruto snarled, the tell-tale of Kyuubis influence beginning to show.

"and you'd believe the damn fox over your best friend?" Sasuke snarled back. there was a pause.

"…go away, Sasuke." Naruto said through the door, although it was softer, sad.

"Naruto, I swear…" Sasuke sighed, annoyed. He looked up, somewhat curious, when the door unlocked.

"Naruto. Do you really believe I don't believe you when you say the village is in trouble?" Sasuke asked, his face stoic. Naruto snorted.

"I don't know what to believe. First, I'm a traitor to the village, but you come and bring me back. secondly, you get me back here, but you seem like you regret it. third, you don't believe me, but now you're trying to convince me you do. What is it? do you really want me here, or do you want me gone? Because if you want me gone, I'll be gone before you say 'Go!'" Naruto hissed, hands clenching, Kyuubis influence multiplying.

"if you leave, I'll just bring you back again. And again if I have to." Sasuke hissed, his hands forming fists. A moment of shock and surprised flicked over Narutos face, before slipping back to annoyed.

"Teme! How the hell-" whatever he was going to say was cut off, as a sudden scream erupted from the village.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter twenty two**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

The scream echoed around the empty forest. The animals had skittered away, frightened, while the two shinobi had left as soon as the scream began.

Naruto shifted straight into his henge, as he ran behind Sasuke, who was about a metre in front of him. Naruto gritted his teeth, as they got closer to the gate.

They flew past the gate, both with an aura of tenseness and smouldering anger burning around them. Any villagers in eye range had looks of identical shock over their faces. Wasn't this time peace time?

Naruto and Sasuke found the source of the scream, a young brown haired woman kneeling on the ground, her eyes looking up hauntingly. Her hands were wrapped around her stomach, and she was deathly pale.

"He…helps me!" she screeched, her eyes desperate as she fell forward. Sasuke looked around for danger, while Naruto quickly kneeled down in front of her.

"What's happened? What's wrong?"

"I… I had to take a….a pi-" the woman stuttered, before throwing up the contents of her stomach. The vomit barely missed the two, as it puddled beside them. Naruto scowled at the mess before a sympathetic look covered his face as he turned back to the woman. But his face fell, and shock covered his face.

Her pupils were overly large, almost taking over the colour. The veins in her eyes could barely be seen, and a trail of blood was coming out of the corner of her mouth.

"Na…Jari! What's happened?" Sasuke said, coming over to them and looking down at the two.

"I'm not sure. She had to take something, but I guess it's just made her sick. I don't think there's any immediate danger, but I think she might be really sick." Naruto replied, glaring slightly at the almost-slip up from the Uchiha.

"Alright. I'll carry her and you find out what-" Sasuke was cut off as the woman let out another scream.

She fell forward, her head landing on Naruto's shoulder, and throwing up again. But this time, instead of vomit, it was a torrent of blood."

"Oh shit! Sasuke go get Sakura, now!" Naruto growled to the Uchiha, and the raven quick disappeared. Naruto panicked internally, but on the outside he appeared calm and collected.

"Now, I know that you're in pain, and this is all very worrying, but you have to tell me what's happened!" Naruto said, helping the woman to kneel back, rather than laying on his shoulder. She looked up at him blankly, her lips and chin covered in red.

"I had…. To take… a pi-pill… I don't know…what's happening! It feels like… like I'm being ripped apart… from the inside…" the woman moaned in pain, arms getting tighter around her stomach. Her body spasmed, and her back arched as her arms suddenly flew to her throat. She let out a strangled scream.

"What! Oh god, what do I do? What's happening?" Naruto yelped, standing and trying to get the woman's hands off her throat. She cried heavily, awkward coughing and sobbing coming from her throat. But what was strange, was that at the base of her neck, it began to turn red.

"It burns! Get it out!" the woman screamed again, clawing at her neck.

"Fuck! Sasuke, hurry up!" Naruto cringed as the woman scraped a shallow cut long her neck. The colouring in her neck seemed to rise slightly, but disappear from the base. In fact, it pulsed strangely, as though it was a light.

"Ahh! It hurts! Make it stop!" the woman screamed. Naruto sensed approaching villagers, and he screwed up his face. At the first sight of a villager, he snapped.

"Get away! This is official shinobi business, and we do not need civilians to get in the way!" Naruto snarled, his henge slightly flickering at the anger. The villager looked at him confused, before catching the anger in his tone and sprinting off. Naruto faintly heard the villager telling others to get away, and Naruto turned his attention back to the woman. The colouring in her neck faltered again, before coming back, much brighter.

"Ah!" the woman screamed again. She fell forwards, forehead hitting the ground as she screamed. Naruto panicked, falling to his knees beside her, rubbing her back.

"Uh… calm down! Help is coming! You'll be alright!" Naruto assured, although he wasn't too sure about the last thing her said. The woman must've known about his uncertainty, as she broke into heavier sobs.

"This…is…all…_his_ fault…." The woman cried, half rubbing and half clawing at her neck.

"Whose? Whose fault is it?" Naruto asked, leaning down.

"_He_ made me take it… and I had to take it… so_ he_ wouldn't … kill… the village…" the woman cried. She wasn't making sense.

"Who's he?" Naruto asked.

"He threatened… the village…" she sobbed.

"Who!"

"Wa…ru…" the woman let out a scream, her back straightening before she bowed forward again. She vomited up blood, but this time, a foreign object was hanging from her mouth.

Was that…oh my god… was that a _paw_!

What looked like a small animal leg, maybe about five centimetres from paw to elbow, was hanging from her mouth. The woman's eyes widened and she wrapped her hands around her neck. The paw seemed to flex, and tiny little claws seemed to make their way out from the flesh.

But what was strange was that the flesh was more or less… sludge. Solid sludge. And the bones, which seemed to be a dull grey, could be seen underneath.

Naruto almost vomited at the sight. The small animal leg moved forward, followed by another paw. The woman was screaming hysterically, as she saw what was hanging out of her mouth. The glow was now just under the woman's eyes, and she screamed and cried. Her tears were stained with blood. The paws wiggled, and blood dripped from the woman's mouth as the limbs moved.

Naruto freaked, backing away slowly. What the hell is that? Where are Sasuke and Sakura? WHAT THE FUCK?

The woman fell forwards, the paws dangling. They moved forward again, and this time, through the woman's open mouth, a small muzzle made its way through. I small whine came from the muzzle, and Naruto swallowed the bile in his throat.

What happened next was horrible. The woman screamed, and a small bundle of blood, sludge and grey stuff fell from her mouth. The woman screamed, before falling backwards, and not moving. The bundle however, just twitched. Naruto was freaked out.

"Oi! Are you alright?" Naruto twisted his head and saw Sakura and Sasuke running towards them. Naruto's eyes went wide and he turned his head back to the bundle. The front of the mess glowed slightly, and its body seemed to stretch. It grew, instead of its original fifteen centimetre shape, to become half a metre long. All three bystanders backed up, as the shape grew to a metre long. The bundle seemed to find its bearings, as it slowly, shakily, stood on all fours. A damp tail swung mindlessly by its hind legs, and the glow came faintly from in front.

The tail end of the shape was facing towards Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, while the other end was looking towards the woman. The shape expanded again, become two metres long, and standing about two-three metres high. The shape turned, and Naruto saw the large head of the beast.

Again, Naruto could see the bones inside the beast, looking a dull grey. Each bone could be seen, inside of the redden sludge. The body seemingly dripped, as it was coated from the woman's blood. And its eyes… oh crap, its eyes…

They were on fire.

"_By its birth, its coat soaked by blood, brings forth the curse…"_

"_She's a Ketsueki Ookami, a blood wolf."_

"_Her eyes are flames…"_

"_G… _Gekido?"

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter twenty three**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

All three shinobi stared in shock at the wolf in front of them. Its eyes burned a harsh red, and its mouth was twisted up in a feral smile.

"Hey there, boys and girl." Gekido laughed; her voice was a sinister tone.

"What the hell is that?" Sakura gasped, staring right at the beast in front of her. Its body pulsed slightly, and it grew a bit bigger than before. Its claws dug into the earth, and the tail swept back and forth across the dirt. Blood slowly dripped off the beast, pooling underneath it.

"That's Gekido; Sasuke, evacuate the village." Naruto said, confidence brimming and a sudden burst of strength went through him. This was it.

"Right. Sakura, come with me." Sasuke said, gripping Sakura's arm. She turned confused eyes at him.

"What? Why do we have to evacuate?" Sakura asked, but her head flicked to the side at the wolf's laughter.

"My god. How stupid. Does no one know who I am? I am Gekido! 'Chi no Noroi'! Ring a bell?" the wolf laughed, its body turning to fully face the shinobi. The kanji symbol for blood was tattooed across her forehead, between her fiery eyes.

"I know who you are. Your fight's with me, Gekido. Not this village."

"Ah! Brave young thing! You're so pathetic! How can a measly little…." The wolf snarled to the brunette, before the wind changed direction. The wind blew from behind the three shinobi; straight into the wolf. She sniffed the air cautiously, before her gaze flicked to the 'brunette' in front of her. Her head was still tilted upwards with her nose in the air.

"Ah…. So it's you…" Gekido said slowly, as though thinking something over.

"Yeah. Me." Naruto replied. His henge flickered, and Sakura caught this.

"I knew he was a henge! You lied to me!" Sakura screeched, aiming a punch at Sasuke. He caught her fist, although sliding back a few steps from the force. He glared at the pinkette.

"Of course I lied, especially if it meant keeping my friends safe." Sasuke hissed at her. Sakura frowned, confused, before glaring.

"Oh? But hiding things from other friends is ok?" Sakura yelled back. Gekido's ears flattened against the back of her head.

"Ma, ma … that pink haired bitch is annoying…" Gekido frowned, before baring her teeth angrily. "I'll get rid of it!" the wolf lunged forward, teeth snapping, and she grew impossibly larger, almost to the height of a house. The next few seconds were a blur.

Sasuke pushed Sakura, sending her back, as he jumped backwards. Naruto jumped forwards, as the wolf changed direction to follow the pinkette. Sakura screamed as the wolf came closer, and she closed her eyes waiting for death.

But it never came.

She hesitantly opened her eyes, tears prickling at the corners. She gasped.

'Jari' had his head twisted back at her, blood running from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were sad.

"I… I saved you…" he murmured. Her eyes widened. The bloody wolf, Gekido, currently had her muzzle wrapped around Naruto, her top jaw over his right shoulder and her bottom jaw on his left hip. The strain in her jaw was obvious, as she tried to clamp down her grip. 'Jari's' head fell forward, shadowing his eyes. Then, he was covered in smoke.

Sakura screamed, as the blonde was revealed, bloody tears falling from his covered eyes.

~ ҉ ~

Tsunade was currently sitting at her desk, trying to organize her ANBU.

"All of you heard that scream! Why didn't you go find out what was wrong! I had to get an off duty Chuunin to come and get help!" Tsunade yelled at her ANBU, who stood quietly off to the side of her officer. The blonde leader slammed her fists on the table as she glared.

"We were under strict orders not to help any villagers." One ANBU responded. He was standing a few centimetres in front of the others, his back straight and wearing a shark mask.

"And who the hell gave you those orders?" Tsunade growled.

"Waru-sama gave us the orders, Hokage-sama." The ANBU replied.

"Waru? That bloody old fool! I'm your Hokage! You obey my orders or no orders at all!" Tsunade rampaged, standing quickly and walking to the front of the waiting ANBU. A glaring war began between the two, and the ANBU spoke a moment after.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. But these orders were specifically given before this event occurred." The ANBU said calmly, eyes level with the Hokage's, even though they were hidden behind the shark mask.

"I don't care when or where these orders were given!" Tsunade fumed. The ANBU simply stood there.

"Hokage-sama." A timid ANBU raised her hand quietly, hoping not to get caught in the Hokage's fury.

"Yes?" Tsunade asked, running her thumb and forefinger over the bridge of her nose.

"I am aware you are upset with us, and I was thinking that if it will help me make it up to you, if I should go and check on the villager?" the ANBU said quietly. Her mask was an intricate design, and somewhat resembled that of butterfly wings.

"Never mind. I want all of you to just go. I'm sure the Uchiha can settle this." 'And the brat too,' she added silently.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The ANBU replied in sync, before poofing away. Tsunade scowled at the spot where the ANBU used to be.

"SHIZUNE!" Tsunade yelled, and her assistant scrambled in to the officer, her pet pig held in her arms.

"Yes, Tsunade?" Shizune swallowed, detecting Tsunade's anger.

"I want you to find Kakashi and the Uchiha. I have no doubt Naruto will be with the Uchiha, but I want all three of them to help with this situation. I don't know what's going on, but I want it resolved now." Tsunade said, before sitting at her desk. Her hands were folded and she rested her head on them, with her elbows on the desk.

"Hai, Tsunade." Shizune nodded and bowed, before leaving the room.

'You better be ok, Naruto.' Tsunade thought, her gaze flicking to the window when another scream could be heard.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke quickly jumped forward, scooping the screaming pinkette in his arms.

"Be safe, Dobe!" Sasuke called out as Naruto gripped the edges of Gekido's jaws. Sasuke jumped away, heading towards the Hokage Tower.

"No problem, Teme!" Naruto called before the raven got out of hearing range. Naruto felt Kyuubi's chakra bubble over his skin, and the tell-tale signs of the Kyuubi take over could be seen. Naruto's newly grown claws dug into the slimy goo that was Gekido's flesh, and he pushed the jaws off him. Teeth marred his skin, leaving inches deep scars along the blonde's skin.

Naruto hissed, as he felt Kyuubi used his chakra to close the new wounds. The blood that escaped dripped down his legs and stomach, staining the earth. Naruto's eyes were slowly blotching red, and his fangs were protruding. Naruto snarled at the wolf, who stared at him.

"Ahh… Kyuubi." Gekido smirked, tail flicking back and forth. Her claws dug into the earth repeatedly, and her eyes trained on the chakra that pulsed around Naruto.

'_Gekido… long time no see!_' Kyuubi said, his voice vibrating from Naruto's mouth.

"Yes, you old fox. It's probably been… what, 100 years?" Gekido laughed, dropping slightly as laughter rumbled through her.

'_Possibly_… my friend." Kyuubi responded. Gekido's ears flicked up, and she stood at full height. Her size grew again, almost gaining half of her height.

"Bastard! Do not call me that!" Gekido howled angrily, her eyes burning.

Kyuubi laughed at her response, memories faintly passing through his mind.

'_Fine, fine..._' Kyuubi responded. Naruto had enough of the demons' conversation, and he ran forward, a snarl ripping through him.

Gekido smirked as the small human ran at her, Kyuubi's chakra bubbling around him. Three tails were poking out from the blonde, and he looked very animalistic.

Naruto's claws swiped through the strange flesh of Gekido, and she let out a pained howl. The wound bubbled slightly and blood slowly dripped. Gekido ran her tongue over the wound, growling angrily. Naruto jumped off to the side, his chakra ears trained forward and his tails flicking.

"Didn't realize you were so fast and strong, brat." Gekido growled.

"You know nothing about me, Bakamono!" Naruto growled to the wolf, whose ears flattened against her head and beared her teeth.

"Watch that mouth of yours, Brat." Gekido snarled, before lunging towards the blonde with one bound. Naruto swiftly jumped out of the way, and jumped onto the opposing roof. Gekido's massive paws smashed through the building, and screams of terror could be heard from the broken building.

"_ATTENTION EVERYONE! THE VILLAGE MUST BE EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY!"_ Tsunade's voice echoed over the entire village. She had used some form of voice amplifying jutsu to do so.

Suddenly, a flood of villagers entered the streets, all screaming and running for the exits. Gekido's attention was drawn to the villagers, suddenly interested.

"Yay, moving targets…" Gekido rumbled, before running down the street. People screamed louder, as giant paws either smashed down next to them, or crushed the people running beside them. Blood began to litter the streets from where the wolf ran. Naruto gritted his teeth.

"Gekido! I'm your opponent, not this village!" Naruto roared, following the wolf along the rooftops. By now, Gekido was almost as tall as the Hokage tower, and was possibly going to grow as large as the mountain which held the Hokage's faces.

"Stupid brat, as long as there is blood to spill, anyone and everyone is my opponent!" Gekido laughed, bounding down the street.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter twenty four**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto ground his teeth together, trying to keep up with the large running wolf. The wolf's body was highly distracting, seeing as you can see each and every individual bone through the transparent, gooey flesh. Naruto could see the muscles straining as they bunched together, and then relaxing. Naruto shook his head, determined to stop the beast.

Gekido chuckled insanely, her tail swishing back and forth, destroying any buildings that were in the way of the flicking limb.

"Gekido! Stop! If you hurt one more person, I swear_ I'll kill you_!" Naruto roared, his whole being screaming anger. Gekido only chuckled.

"Isn't that the damn point, brat?" Gekido asked, before purposely slamming her front paw down on an unsuspecting villager. The villager's scream echoed around the village, and more screams rang out. After what seemed like forever, Gekido stopped running. She slowed down to a walk, and then stopped. Her ears moved around, before settling on Naruto, whom had stopped.

"Well brat, your village has no more occupants, other than you and myself." Gekido smirked, turning to him. Her paws were covered in blood, and her lips twitched, fighting not to smile. Naruto snarled.

"_Isn't that the damn point_?" Naruto mocked, dropping onto his hands and feet, his tails (which had now grown to four), were swirling behind him. Naruto had mastered control until five tails during his five year absence, and right now he was thankful.

Gekido snorted.

"Right, brat. Unfortunately, my master will be here soon, and you were supposed to be dead by now."

"Your master? Oh! The actual 'Chi no Noroi'. Ha! You're nothing but a pawn, aren't you?" Naruto scoffed, eyes watching the surroundings.

"Hey! I am an equal part of this damn curse, you ungrateful brat!" Gekido snarled, taking a step forward.

"What do I have to be grateful to you for? For wanting to kill my village? For destroying it?" Naruto snarled, fed up. He jumped up, and the chakra around his hands expanded, forming giant claws.

Gekido jumped backwards, slamming through a building while doing so. She skipped around, dodging the small blows from Naruto. He snarled, and the chakra around him bubbled and expanded. His skin was beginning to peel away, revealing a strange blackness.

Naruto jumped up quickly, coming up to meet the wolf's forehead. One hand swung forward, and before Gekido could react, he punctured the sensitive skin in the corner of her eye. Gekido screamed, as her tear ducts were torn, and the fire in her eye flickered. Gekido swiped a paw in front of her eyes, and Naruto flew to the side from the impact.

He landed against the wall, a few specks of blood flying out of his mouth at the impact. He slumped forwards, groaning. Gekido hobbled forward, one eye closed (her transparent eyelid keeping the fire in a protective cocoon-like embrace). Gekido looked down at her leg, and saw the slash from before still there. She growled in her throat, and picked up the slumped blonde up in her jaws. Naruto's eyes fluttered open, and let out a shocked gasp as he was thrown across the village.

He slammed into the Hokage monument, right on the forehead of the fourth Hokage's stone face. Naruto let out a pained half-scream, and a small amount of blood dribbled down his chin. He fell down, sliding till he was sitting on the Yondaime's nose. He looked up, face covered in blood, to see the wolf smirking.

Gekido, who was standing on the other side of the village, smirked as she saw the blonde jinchuuriki slump against the statue. She was about to run forward, when a stabbing pain erupted in her back. Gekido howled in pain and fury, and turned her head to see a raven haired man holding a katana into her back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Gekido growled, bucking up and down as she tried to throw the Uchiha off. Sasuke held on for dear life as the giant wolf jumped around. Naruto looked up, his vision blurring slightly, and saw Gekido jumping and bucking. He raised an eyebrow until he saw someone jump off the wolf's back.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled out, half relieved and half pissed off at the Uchiha.

"Naruto! You better not make me do all the work!" Sasuke called back, as he slid across a rooftop. Naruto growled, standing shakily. Kyuubi's chakra moulded itself around him, mending the broken bones (from hitting the mountain) and slowly burning away his skin. Naruto screamed, his skin peeling away, revealing the blackness. His eyes and mouth turned into a blinding white, and he let out an animalistic growl. Five tails were now out, and Naruto could only just barely hold onto his control.

Speech was now past Naruto, as all his words came out as feral snarls and growls. Balls of chakra, his own and Kyuubi's, exploded out from him. They floated in mid-air for a few moments, before gathering together. It was almost like they were being pulled by a magnetic force, until they formed a very large ball in front of Naruto's mouth.

Sasuke didn't know what he was seeing, or what he should do. Get away? Distract Gekido? He decided for the former, and he began to run in another direction, away from the blonde. Gekido watched the Uchiha for a few moments, utterly confused. He just attacked, so why was he running?

Gekido's eyes snapped to Naruto, and they grew impossibly large. She stumbled back a few steps, as a giant ball of chakra was floating in front of the jinchuuriki. She froze, before smirking.

She had no time to think or speak, before she was hit by a giant beam of chakra.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter twenty five**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto shuddered, falling forwards slightly as the beam of chakra slowly dissipated. A slow growl came out of his mouth, eyes glaring into the dust that the impact had created.

Sasuke stood stiffly on the spot, watching the massive dust cloud that had erupted from the earth after Gekido had been struck by the chakra beam. The dust was considerably thin, but only a hazy shadow could be seen.

The dust cloud slowly faded. Naruto let out a howl of anger, as Gekido stood there. A large hole had been ripped through her, and the jinchuuriki could see straight through the wolf.

Gekido smiled sweetly, looking down at the hole and back to the jinchuuriki.

"You know, that I can't die yet, right?" Gekido asked, watched as her own blood dripped from her chest.

The only sound heard was a giant angered growl from Naruto. Sasuke stood, annoyed. How the hell could she have survived? _Oh, right…_

Sasuke activated his Sharigan, watching the wolf talk to his friend. The wolf's eyes were slightly narrowed, and Sasuke saw the flames flickering in them. Her eyes had blood red irises, and her pupils were slits. The flames seemed to be a bit smaller then when he had seen them before, though…

Naruto growled, before jumping forward again, his hands growing into large clawed paws, swiping angrily at Gekido. Gekido just giggled, prancing on the spot as she dodged Naruto's attacks.

An inhuman growl escaped through Naruto's lips, as he continued to swipe at the massive wolf. Sasuke scowled, running and jumping forward, dragging his katana along the rooftops as he ran towards Gekido and Naruto.

Gekido's movements caused dirt and dust to rise up, almost blinding the Uchiha as he got closer. Naruto just continued to attack, the dirt and dust not seeming to faze him. Sasuke brought his free arm up to cover his mouth, eyes narrowed to see through the dust. Gekido had seemed to do this, purposely. Gekido simply smiled at Naruto's attempts.

"So, brat, are you getting tired yet?" Gekido asked Naruto, side stepping another of his attacks. Naruto's claws almost touched the wolf's flesh, but before he could, Gekido brought one of her paws up and slammed it into Naruto, causing him to fly off to the side once again. Naruto howled in pain, his head swimming. Gekido turned to face the jinchuuriki, an evil smile plastered on her face.

Sasuke coughed into his sleeve, before bringing up his katana and jumping forward. He swung, bringing the katana down across Gekido's head.

Gekido screamed in pain, feeling her flesh being cut open. Blood poured out of the wound, and her flesh crinkled and somewhat pulsed under the flowing liquid, almost as though the flesh was the blood…

Sasuke landed on the top of her head, and he pulled his katana back up, cutting off the tip of her left ear. Gekido screamed. She thrashed her head from side to side, trying to dislodge the Uchiha, but Sasuke managed to hold on.

Gekido couldn't die until the fire was out, eh? Well, that's exactly was the Uchiha was going to do. Fire one, going out!

Sasuke's Sharigan whirled around in his eyes, trying to figure out the best moment to strike. His katana swung around, before flying towards Gekido's eye. Gekido's eyes widened when she saw the blade coming, and she backed up, thrashing her head. Instead of the blade hitting her eye like planned, the blade cut along her cheek.

"Stupid Uchiha! Get off me!" Gekido roared, bucking up and thrashing her head. Sasuke couldn't hold on and he fell to the ground, but thankfully he landed on his feet. His katana was braced in both hands and Sasuke ducked into a fighting stance. Gekido watched him warily.

"Looks like I won't underestimate you again, Uchiha." Gekido grumbled, before looking at the slumped body of Naruto. Growls were coming from his throat, but Naruto looked ready to pass out. Apparently, that chakra ball was a lot stronger and harder to make then before.

"Baka… Kyuubi didn't tell you, did he?" Gekido mused, her tail flicking around behind her. Naruto's head rose up, his blue eyes showing through the white of the chakra cloak. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Tell him what?" Sasuke hissed, hands clenching around the katana handle. Gekido smiled.

"Well, once blood has been spilt around me, I can use it to absorb chakra, to make me stronger." Gekido grinned, and motioned to Naruto. "Now, the brat there has bled, and spat blood a few times while we've been fighting. So, I can absorb his chakra. I'm not exactly normal, am i?" Gekido sighed, looking over at the two. The hole that was made by the chakra beam was slowly healing up, since Gekido had absorbed some of Naruto's chakra beforehand. Gekido grinned at the look of annoyance that flashed over the Uchiha's face.

"Naruto!" Sasuke hissed to his friend. Naruto let out a whine, and the chakra cloak began to fade. The chakra bubbled and evaporated, leaving a very red skinned Naruto. Naruto cried out in pain, clutching his middle. His outfit was burnt and crisped, and his skin was burnt pretty badly. The blonde lifted his eyes to see Gekido smirking, and then to see the Uchiha, looking blank. His face may have been blank, but his eyes showed confusion and worry.

"D…Damnit!" Naruto gritted his teeth, attempting to stand.

'_Want some help, brat_?' Kyuubi asked quietly. Gekido was pissing him off…

"Would love some…" Naruto spoke out loud, making Gekido cock her head to the side.

'_Right_.' Kyuubi replied, before red chakra billowed around Naruto. Naruto let out a shout, as Kyuubi quickly, but effectively, healed him. Naruto stumbled on the spot as the fox's chakra faded, and he smiled up towards the wolf.

"Well, looks like I'm back in action!" Naruto said, although none to happily. Sasuke turned his head to the wolf and glared.

"Damn, and here I thought you'd be out for the count. But, apparently not." Gekido grumbled, dropping so her stomach brushed the ground. She growled.

"Guess not. Sorry about the disappointment." Naruto responded, walking over to stand next to Sasuke. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow, and Naruto only nodded with his eyes still on the wolf. Sasuke nodded again, a bit unsure of what the blonde wanted him to do. But understanding enough, Sasuke ran forward, Katana raised high.

Sasuke began slicing the blade at Gekido, who stepped and skittered away. Naruto created a Kage Bunshin, and the clone began to quickly move his hands over Naruto's, forming a sphere of wind chakra. The Bunshin disappeared, and Naruto ran forward. The sphere grew larger, and wisps of air began to follow the sphere's movements.

Sasuke quickly jumped up, happy with his diversion. Gekido followed his movements, lifting her head to keep watch on the Uchiha. She didn't see Naruto coming. She saw Sasuke smirk, and her head dropped.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto yelled, jumping up and ploughing the wind chakra sphere into Gekido's left eye.

A pain filled scream echoed around the village.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**

**Urufu-chan!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter twenty six**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Gekido screamed. Naruto growled. Sasuke smirked.

The Rasengan's mass amount of air had destroyed the flames in Gekido's eye, and almost destroyed her eye. Her eye went pitch black, blood dripping from the socket.

"you brats! What have you done!" she screeched, thrashing her head. Naruto jumped back, and Sasuke moved to get a better view of the wolf's other eye.

"one to go!" Naruto half cheered, making several more Kage Bunshin's appear. Sasuke brought one arm down to his side, and used the other to brace it. Slowly, little sparks flashed from his hand, before lightning cackled in his palm. His eyes were almost psychotic, as he watched Gekido stumble.

"You fucking brats! I'm going to-" Gekido stopped as soon as her good eye caught sight of the Uchiha with a Chidori in his hand. She swore, moving backwards as Sasuke moved forward. She had to watch the Kage Bunshins, too, as they all drew shuriken and kunai from their weapon pouches.

"Damn brat!" Gekido growled, as kunai and shuriken were thrown at her. almost all of them impaled her in the side, and the area that the weapons had hit, began to melt away, the flesh turning into blood.

"Damnit! Why did you fucking have to get rid of a fire? Now it fucking hurts!" Gekido growled, before jumping forward. Sasuke yelled out as he threw his hand forward, managing to blow the lower half of Gekido's front left leg off, as she jumped.

Gekido fell to the ground, a long howl of pain escaping her lips.

Sasuke slouched forward, holding his crisped arm against his chest. Red marks marred his skin, from where lightning had ripped across his arm.

Naruto and his Kage Bunshin ran forward, landing on the legs of the giant wolf, holding the legs down. Each of the clones began to shift, their eyes turning blood red and their nails sharpening to claws. A black rim covered the edges of their mouths, and their teeth sharpened, too. The original Naruto, though, looked normal, being able to control the amount of chakra he received from Kyuubi.

"Gekido. I will never, forgive you for destroying my village, and killing the villagers." Naruto let go of the leg he was holding, to move to stand in front of Gekido's head. Her eyes glared towards Naruto, though only one of them seeing the blonde.

"And what makes you want to protect this place?" Gekdio growled out, struggling against the Kage Bunshin's.

"Because this place is my home." Naruto responded, pulling out a kunai from his weapon pouch.

"Your _home_? HA! How can this place be your home, when they rejected you years ago? Oh, yes, I heard about that. So did my Master." Gekido said, responding to the look of pain that settled on Naruto's face. "They called you a demon, they blamed out. They abandoned you. They abused you. How can you still call this place home?"

Naruto fell to his knees, as memories flooded his mind.

"Don't listen to her!" Sasuke called out, anger and slight worry in his tone.

"No! listen to me! This place… was it ever really your home? Did it ever feel like that to you at all?" Gekido grumbled, thrashing against the Bunshin's. each Bunshin gritted their teeth as they struggled to hold the giant wolf down.

Naruto became motionless. Thinking that she was getting to him, Gekido smirked.

"The villagers blame you for everything! It's your fault that Kyuubi destroyed the village, it's your fault you killed the Yondaime! You're even housing damn Kyuubi!" Gekido growled. Naruto slowly stood up, his head facing downwards and shadows danced across his face.

"Naruto…" Sasuke growled, a scowl over his face. he couldn't belive Gekido, could he? "you're better than this fucking wolf. She's just trying to get to you! Ignore her!"

"A demon…" Naruto muttered, as he raised a hand up. He looked at it carefully.

"Yes. A demon. You're housing a demon, and you basically made yourself one." Gekido scowled. Having enough, Gekido let out an annoyed whine, before her bloody flesh began to bubbled and his. Her flesh began to rise in temperature, and the bubbles on her popped and silvery black ooze began to drip out with each burst. When the ooze touches the Bunshin, they disappeared, and when it touched the earth, it sizzled and popped.

Gekido scrambled on her feet, shaking her body so that any dust and dirt would get off her.

"I guess it's a good thing then…" Naruto said, lifting his head.

"What!" Gekido snarled at the look of complete indifference on Naruto's face.

"It's a good thing I'm a demon, isn't it? It means I can completely destroy you. Only a demon could be able to destroy you. And who cares if the village isn't really like a home to me anymore. This village has people I care about in it, and I refuse to let you hurt them. Hurting the village, hurts them. Hurting them. Pisses. Me. Off." Naruto growled, annoyance and anger gracing his features. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the scene.

"Bah! What would you know? Do they know you're still alive?" Gekido reminded him.

"What's your point? It's a bit obvious that I'm not so dead, after I grew the Kyuubi Cloak, don't you think? Mine and his chakra is a little hard to miss…" Naruto pointed out. he stretched his arm out, almost as though reaching towards Gekido. Through Naruto's eyes, he saw his hand curve around Gekido's face, before he scrunched it down, in his fist.

"You won't win this, Gekido. And you're gonna be fucking lucky if it's quick." Naruto growled, crouching down until his palms touched the ground. Two tails grew off his back, and a thin cloak of chakra covered his body. Sasuke smirked at his friend, before turning his attention to the wolf.

Gekido eyes the jinchuuriki carefully, before flicking her gaze quickly to the Uchiha. The easiest target at the moment, would probably be Sasuke, since he was currently nursing a damaged arm. but if she turned her back on Naruto, she would be attacked. Gekdio sighed.

"you know brat? You're really pissing me off. My master will not be happy when she finds out you killed me, and then she'll quickly kill each and every one of yours friends, spilling their blood, and making you go utterly insane. Actually, I'm quite upset that I'll miss it." Gekido muttered to Naruto, before looking down at her non-existent left paw. "and another thing, I'm even more pissed off, that I can't walk straight." Gekido shook her head.

Naruto ran straight at Gekido, his eyes fogged with anger. Gekido cursed, before stumbling backwards, dodging the attacking jinchuuriki. He managed to get several strikeson her right front paw and chest, and even on her neck. Gekido nashed her teeth, barking and biting at Naruto as she made to back away. One particular blow to the face sent Gekido's head reeling, as pain ripped through her temples. A blow to her jaw sent her head snapping to the side, a horrid crack rippling through the area. Gekido glared at Naruto, as her jaw hung limply from her head. she through her head up and her jaw snapped back into place. Any and all flesh around her bottom jaw melted away, leaving only the silver bones. It was rather sickening to see a head full of flesh, to see only the bones left, still dripping with blood.

Through their fight, Sasuke quickly assessed the wolf's movements with his Sharigan, before wielding his katana in his un-injured hand. As Gekido's back leg got closer to him, he deftly sliced his katana down the length of it, before curving and cutting the Achilles heel.

Gekido screamed as her back paw gave way, and she ungracefully fell to the ground. Dust flew up when her body made contact, and she grunted when her head snapped onto the ground. Her entire left side was useless now.

Gekido looked up at Naruto, fear and pain in her eyes. Naruto looked at her silently, just simply watching for a moment. He created a Bunshin, and as the Bunshin formed the Rasengan in his hand, he looked over Gekido's wounds. Her flesh was beginning to lose its solid form, and slowly turn back into blood. Blood stained the streets of Konoha, painting it a painful red.

Naruto turned his eyes back to the wolf.

"Sasuke." Naruto called out, eyes locked onto Gekido's. Sasuke looked up at Naruto. "What?" "I want you to aim for her heart, as soon as I put the Rasengan through her eye. Sasuke cocked his head to the side, and looked at his blade. It was covered in Gekido's strange blood. He walked forward, his injured arm resting against his chest. He aimed his blade where he saw her heart beating, and waited. The Bunshin disappeared, and Naruto pulled his arm back. just before the thrust it forward though, a voice broke all of their thoughts.

"My my, Naruto-kun. You've seemed to have gotten yourself into quite a mess…" all eyes flicked over to see Waru standing about one hundred metres from them, a pleasant smile on his face.

Naruto's face held shock, Sasuke's annoyance, and Gekido's held a triumphant smile.

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter twenty seven**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear.**

~ ҉ ~

The only sound that could he heard was the sound of harsh breathing and an echoing laugh from the large wolf on the ground. Both Naruto and Sasuke stiffened as Waru slowly made his way to the two shinobi. The Rasengan in Naruto's hand had died out, and Sasuke almost dropped his katana at the unexpected appearance of the council member.

"Did you boys forget about me already? That's quite hurtful!" Waru scolded, shaking a bony finger at them. Naruto felt a snarl in his throat, but managed to keep it in. Sasuke opted to using his Uchiha Glare on Waru. Waru faltered for a moment at the glare, but smirked and continued forward.

"Hey Boss, how's it going?" Gekido rumbled, turning her head at an odd angle to see the elderly man approach.

"Very well, thank you." Waru nodded, and eyed the two men carefully.

"Now… Uzumaki, Uchiha. It's amazing that two people so opposite could be such good friends, ne? But I suppose it's not that hard to believe, since both of your mothers were friends too." Waru smiled, at the look of fury that settled on both Naruto's and Sasuke's face. Waru chuckled to himself, before grabbing a kunai from out of his robes. He twirled it in his fingers for a moment, and Naruto noticed the tip was covered in a thick red substance.

"You bastard! You brought Gekido here, didn't you?" Naruto snarled, crouching down slightly. Gekido raised an eyebrow, waiting for Waru to answer.

"Well, I guess that's true. I did choose Konoha as the place for such destruction. But then again, you're return could have had something to do with the decision…" Waru muttered, turning his old eyes to look at Naruto. Sasuke's grip on his katana tightened with each word from Waru.

Naruto gritted his teeth, dropping onto his hands. His body was beginning to be covered by a thin layer of Kyuubi's chakra. One tail slowly formed behind him, and his nails and teeth sharpened.

"Why?" Naruto growled out, and Waru raised an eyebrow.

"Why? Why do anything? People claim that I am insane, and I believe them. Haven't had a sane thought since I was twelve!" Waru said, looking at the Kunai with a strange fascination.

"They claim your insane cause you are! You're just some crazy old geezer!" Naruto growled, his fingers curling into the dirt below him.

"Now, now! That was hurtful!" Waru said sadly before his eyes hardened, and with a flick of his wrist, the kunai was thrown towards Naruto, slicing a fine line in Naruto's shoulder. Naruto growled in pain, as Kyuubi's chakra bubbled around the wound, healing it back up. Sasuke ran forward, dragging his katana through the air to attack at Waru.

Waru simply pulled out two thin swords, about the size of his forearms, and used them to block any and every strike from the katana. Sasuke's eyes whirled an angry red as his Sharingan was activated, and electricity crackled through the katana. Waru grinned, jumping back before doing several hand signs. The earth beneath the Uchiha's feet crumbled and jumped, before rising up and forming a spherical cage around Sasuke. Naruto growled, running past the cage and towards Waru.

The earth sphere surrounding Sasuke crumbled slightly, before one side of it exploded, electricity erupting from the hole. Sasuke brought his hands to his katana and ran forward again. Waru simply smiled, before he jumped in the air and sent several shuriken and kunai towards the two shinobi.

By now, another tail had grown on Naruto, and he ran with incredible speed towards Waru. He was a couple of inches in front of Waru before his fist went flying into the elder's jaw. Waru was sent sailing back, slamming into a nearby house. The house collapsed from the impact. Sasuke stopped near the building, before using his fireball jutsu, setting the house ablaze. Naruto glared at the building, a growl escaping his lips.

The flames rose and danced, as the building beneath them burned. Black smoke rose up, and a foul odour followed. Sasuke covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve, backing away slightly.

"Do you fucking believe me now!" Naruto growled, his eyes locking onto Sasuke. The Uchiha stiffened, and turned his glaring eyes back to Naruto. "I told everyone that Waru was behind it, and all of you didn't believe me! Not even Baa-chan! Not even you!" Naruto growled, his eyes going impossibly redder.

"You see brat? No one here can be trusted!" Gekido cackled, and Naruto's head whipped around to face her. She had rolled onto her stomach, and was licking at the spot her paw was cut off. Her eyes were glaring towards both the Uchiha and the Jinchuuriki. Naruto released a growl, his eyes slowly rising to look at the last standing flame in her eye. Sasuke only glared towards the burning building.

"Fuck you, you stupid wolf!" Naruto growled, and one of the chakra tails curled around his arm. A Rasengan was starting to be formed in Naruto's paw, and Gekido's face turned into a look of horror.

"Oh crap! Don't kill me!" Gekido whined, suddenly losing all of her bravado and turning into a whimpering pup.

"Gekido! You knew your time was coming. You can keep escaping it…" Kyuubi called, his voice flowing from Naruto's mouth. Gekido glared towards Naruto, but it was obvious that it was supposed to be for Kyuubi.

"You bastard fox!" Gekido screamed in anger, and a demonic cackle was the only response. Just before Naruto could push the Rasengan through Gekido's eye, a low, old chuckle interrupted. All three sets of eyes turned to see a burnt Waru watching them with a strangely amused expression.

"I would much prefer if you didn't kill her, she's very special, you see." Waru said with a smile. He looked disturbing. Burns covered his body, his robes singed and burnt away. The hair on the ride side of his head was burnt away, and his face was burnt black on the right side. His right eye was black too.

"How are you still alive?" Sasuke hissed, holding his katana in front of him.

"_By its birth, its coat soaked by blood, brings forth the curse, but with its death it will bring the immortal curse to a mortal state, allowing the curse to fall into deaths embrace._" Naruto muttered to himself, his head turning to glare at Gekido. Waru turned curious eyes to Naruto. "We should have learnt this by now, ne?" Naruto mumbled. The chakra cloak around him suddenly dissipated, and Naruto stood standing, looking extremely normal, his body turned towards Gekido, the Rasengan still held in his hand.

"How did you learn that, boy?" Gekido asked with annoyance in his voice.

Naruto turned his eyes to lock with Sasuke's, and Sasuke simply nodded. Naruto let out an animalistic snarl, as he ran forward, smashing his Rasengan into Gekido's eye. She screamed, as the Rasengan went straight through her eye. The Rasengan's swift movement caused all the blood formed flesh to ripple and bubble, before it all but exploded. Chucks of red goo went flying everywhere, leaving only the metallic bones behind. Waru let out a strangled scream, and turned his head to Sasuke. The moment of distraction was all the Uchiha needed to push his Katana through Waru's heart. Waru let out a gurgle, as he stared at the blade impaled within his chest. His eyes fuzzed slightly, and he coughed, sending specks of blood to land on the Uchiha before him.

Waru sent a panicked look at both men before he slumped backwards. Sasuke held a firm grip on his weapon, so the katana was still poised in his hand when Waru fell, leaving the old man's body with a sickening sound. Naruto walked over to Waru, who was struggling to breath. His fist curled in the fabric of Waru's robe, listing the upper half of the man's body up.

"You deserved this. For making that poem, for threatening me and my friends… for attempting to destroy my village." Naruto growled, his arm shaking slightly. Waru continued to stare at Naruto.

"The 'chi no noroi' is no more." Naruto snarled, a wicked smile on his face. Waru suddenly laughed. His eyes were amused, and blood began to trickle out of his mouth. Sasuke sheathed his katana, glaring at the elderly man.

"No boy… It's… Hardly begun…" Waru wheezed, taking in one last strangled breath before his eyes rolled into his head and his body went limp. Naruto released the body, and turned his eyes to Sasuke. Sasuke looked at the body and back to Naruto with a curious gaze. What the hell had Waru meant? Naruto simply shook his head.

"He's dead. It's over."

~ ҉ ~

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


	28. Epilouge

**Epilogue**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear**

~ ҉ ~

Naruto stared at the lifeless body before him. So many things streamed through his head, but he couldn't hold on to them long enough to understand what they were about. His hands shook slightly, and he held them tightly against his side.

Sasuke ran a single hand through his hair, while the other was braced on the handle of his katana. Both shinobi turned their eyes to each other… Sasuke smirked and Naruto let out a relieved laugh.

It was almost absurd. It was over… ha!

Their joyous moment was disrupted at the sounds of thundering footsteps. Sasuke turned his head to see what was going on, while Narutos body went totally ridged.

Several ANBU appeared around the village, picking up the dead bodies. A single ANBU appeared near Waru's corpse, lifted the corpse over their shoulder, and disappeared. As did the other ANBU, taking the bodies somewhere else.

Villagers began to file into the street, worry and fright etched over their faces. Several pairs of eyes wondered around, while some stared openly at the large silver skeleton lying several feet away. Two young children even went up to the red goo, poking it.

"Uchiha-san! You saved us!" several people called out. Sasuke turned his black eyes to them, his face blank.

"I may have done some, but my friend here did the most. He was the one who defeated Gekido. He is the one you should be thanking." Sasuke said, gesturing towards the blonde. Naruto had his back to the villagers, his head down.

"MISHTA! You sabed ush!" a little girl ran out and wrapped her arms around Naruto's leg. Naruto stiffened, not moving. "Mishta? You didn' get huwt, didju?" the little girl moved to stand in front of Naruto, and her lower lip trembled. Not because of who the man was, but because the man did not reply.

"I'm ok…" Naruto whispered, not looking at the child. The little girl reached up and grabbed his hand, pulling downwards. Naruto sunk to his knees, his eyes watching the little girl's reaction. The girl stared at his face, before hesitantly putting her hands on his whiskered cheeks. She squished Naruto's face together, making him look like a fish. The little girl giggled.

"Yay! MUMMY! He sabed ush!" the child squealed, running back to her mother. Naruto stood again, still not facing the villagers, though his stance was a tiny bit more relaxed then what it was before.

"Sir! We are forever grateful! How can we repay you?" one man, presumably the child's father, stepped forward, placing a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto sighed, and turned his head to see the man. The reaction was expected.

The man fell back in shock, words beginning to get stuck in his throat. The man cowered, his eyes locking with the 'demons'. Narutos blue eyes were sad, his hands shoved into his pockets. Sasuke eye the man with a degree of annoyance.

"You're…. you're..!"

"Naruto!" Naruto's head snapped around, his eyes drawn (like everybody else's) to the voice. A blonde kunoichi had her mouth gaping open, her eyes wide and disbelieving. Standing on either side of her a large brown haired man stood, his mouth hanging open with munched up chips being exposed. On the other side, stood a much thinner man, with brown hair tied up in a spikey ponytail atop his head. He rolled his eyes and mumbled, 'troublesome'.

"Hi…" Naruto mumbled weakly, one hand coming up in a half-hearted wave. Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji continued to stare at him. As soon as Naruto spoke, a loud angry cry of '_DAMNIT_!' made everyone turn to see a pissed of Inuzuka barge his way through the crowd, with a very nervous Hinata and stoic Shino following behind him.

"OI, Blondie! Where the _HELL_ have you been? Do you know how WORRIED you had all of us?" Kiba fumed, his ace screwed up almost like a pissed of dog. Akamaru, whom had grown to the size of a small horse, barked with each capitalized word. Naruto just openly stared at the brown haired ninja.

"Where have _I_ been? I've been hiding for the past five years, because I was kicked out of the village! Where the fuck do you think I've been? _HUH_?" Naruto yelled back, anger brimming in his eyes. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at the blonde.

"Well…i….hum" Kiba stammered, shocked by Naruto's outburst.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata said, taking a few steps forward. Naruto felt the anger drain from him as he looked to the shy girl. He was totally caught off guard when the Hyuuga threw herself at him, bringing him into a bear hug.

"Y-you're really back! We missed you!" Hinata sobbed, clutching Naruto tighter. A blush grew over Naruto's face. "P-please don't l-leave again!" Naruto wasn't sure how to react to the girl, so he awkwardly put his arms around her and returned the hug. The blush never left his face.

Kiba, Shino, Ino, Chouji and Shikamaru made their way over to the Jinchuuriki, and began o converse with him, and Ino even tried to initiate a group hug. Naruto was completely confused at the situation.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke turned his head from the group hug, to see a pink haired kunoichi standing near the side of the large mob of villagers. Everyone was busy staring at the Jinchuuriki, that no one noticed the Uchiha move over to them.

"Sakura." Sakura turned her green eyes to see Sasuke's dark eyes watching her.

"Sasuke… what..." Sakura said, almost shocked that Sasuke was talking to her. the last time they had a proper conversation, Sasuke had said she got on his nerves, yelled at her, and even armed himself with a Sharigan and katana… although, he really did have the right to. She should not have blamed Naruto for the Kyuubi's attack, and definitely not called him a… a Bakamono…

"Why aren't you going over?" Sasuke asked, seeming curious.

"I don't think I should…" She said, her eyes softening with guilt.

"I think… it would do both of you good to talk it out." Sasuke said, standing next to her and turning to watch as Naruto was again being swamped by their friends.

"I suppose so. But I'm not sure what I should say to him. I've hurt him so much…" Sakura said, curling her hands together and her head dropping to face the ground. She felt sorrow and guilt swirl inside her. She should never have done or said what she did. She regretted it all. She had never even spared a thought, to what Naruto must have felt the day of the banishment, or how he must have felt when he risked his life for her.

"He's Naruto… He'll forgive you." Sasuke murmured in reply. Sakura turned her head up to Sasuke, gave him a small smile and then walked towards the group. As she did, Sasuke heard the villager's whispers picking up again.

~ ҉ ~

"Naruto…?" Sakura said hesitantly, standing on the outskirts of the small circle that had been surrounding Naruto. The group turned to see Sakura standing there, and Naruto stiffened slightly. He was unsure of what she was going to say, and he seemed guarded.

"Naruto… I'm… I'm so sorry…" Sakura said, looking up at Naruto. Naruto could see the guilt and regret swirling in her eyes. "I should never have… I shouldn't have done any of the things… I've known you for so long… and that day…" Sakura didn't need to specify the day, since Naruto knew she was referring to the banishment, "I was… all logic flew out of my head… I never stopped to think of how you felt or what you thought. You must have been so hurt by my reaction… I don't think I can fully apologize for what I've done… when you saved me earlier… I can never thank you enough… it made me realize, that you were never a monster. You were my friend, my teammate. I'm sorry it took me so long to remember that."

Sakura was looking at the ground by the time she had finished, her shoulder shaking as she sobbed. She jumped in surprise when arms suddenly wrapped around her and pulled her into a large, warm body.

"Sakura… thank you…" She heard Naruto say, his voice shaking slightly. He hugged her for a few moments before drawing back. His eyes were blurry from tears, but he had a smile on his face.

His friends had forgiven him, missed him… he could never thank any of them enough. For five years he was alone, and now… he didn't have to feel that way any longer.

"Naruto…" Naruto turned his head to see the young face of the Hokage. She was smiling at him.

"It's time that I make an announcement…"

~ ҉ ~

"Villagers of Konoha. Five years ago, a Council member by the name of Waru, had announced the presence of a 'demon' in our village. He berated, he accused and he banished a loyal member of Konoha. The Jinchuuriki of the nine tailed Bijuu, Kyuubi no Kitsune, was sent away, because of our foolishness. He had never done anything wrong to this village. He was always loyal, and he only wanted the best for us. But because of the Villages' blindness, we could not see past the 'Demon' label. We did not see the person, the one who had no part in the attack on the village twenty-one years ago. We only saw Kyuubi."

Tsunade took a deep breath, her eyes glaring across the whole of Konoha's villagers and Ninja. She stood atop of a large black stage, a black podium with the Konoha symbol in the middle of the stage. Tsunade continued to glare. Almost the entire village looked guilty.

"And then, we were blessed when he returned. Because of him, the Ketsueki Ookami, the Blood Wolf, Gekido was destroyed. He saved our village. True, there have been some fatalities, but had he not been here, then there would have been far, far more. Naruto," there were gasps of shock at the name. Not many had mentioned that name for five years, "was the only one who knew how Gekido could be defeated. We all would have died trying to kill her."

Tsunade cleared her throat, than motioned for Naruto to stand next to her. Naruto hesitated for a moment, before he walked up next to her. There were a few cries and murmurs when Naruto walked up. A lot of them were mixes of guilt and sadness, while some were confusion. The Jinchuuriki looked out over the villagers, before the Hokage's arm was wrapped around his shoulder.

"Naruto, the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Kitsune, is no longer classified as a missing-nin. He is, once again, a loyal member of Konoha. This decision is non-negotiable, and really, I don't care if you have anything to say by it. Also, those who have helped Naruto along the way, will not be punished either. And if any have been classed as a missing-nin, their status will also be re-instated."

Kakashi had chosen that exact moment to pop up next to the Hokage, his normal lazy look about him. His eyes were upside-down 'U''s, and he held his orange '_Icha Icha'_ book in his hand. "Yo!"

"Kakashi, your timing is impeccable…" Tsunade shook her head, before turning back to the crowd.

"Now, I would like all ninja to begin a village clean up. All of the… flesh must be disposed of. Naruto, what should we do with the bones?" Tsunade asked, as Naruto had flinched slightly at the mention of Gekido's flesh.

"I… I want to bury it. I mean, I know she attacked the village but…" Naruto shrugged, "I believe that she should have a proper resting place… not just be left there to rot." Naruto looked up to see Tsunade smiling.

"I couldn't agree more. You will make a brilliant Hokage someday."

~ ҉ ~

Naruto snuggled into his bed at the end of the day. The night sky was twinkling with stars and a light breeze brushed the cabin as it passed. Naruto let out a content sigh, and he smiled. His eyes drooped with weariness, and he let out a yawn.

The villagers had all taken the time to apologise to the Jinchuuriki, and some had even had a whole conversation about his time away from the village. Teuchi has even cooked up a heap of ramen to celebrate Naruto's return.

All of Naruto's friends had gathered together, wanting to celebrate with the Blonde. They had talked no stop to him, and no one mentioned anything about the incident five years ago, or the one twenty-one years ago, which he appreciated.

Naruto let out a happy sigh. After five years, Konoha was, once again, home.

~ ҉ ~

**END**

**Written by Urufu-chan**

**(Ochibi and Urufu)**


End file.
